Kevin F. Adler

Because she leads by listening

Ten years ago, I didn’t know much about homelessness. I felt frustrated, helpless, and cynical that any progress could be made.

Fast forward to today, the homelessness crisis has continued to grow. But now I feel hopeful for the future and empowered to make a difference.

What changed?

I chose to get involved locally. I got to know a few of my unhoused neighbors as people and listened to their stories. After many hours of conversations, I noticed a few themes emerge, including a deep need for social support and what I have come to call “relational poverty” as an overlooked form of poverty. As one neighbor put it: “I never realized I was homeless when I lost my housing, only when I lost my family and friends.” This led to me starting a nonprofit called Miracle Messages, where we’ve facilitated over one thousand reunions and distributed $2.1 million in direct cash to individuals experiencing homelessness.

And I learned a valuable lesson: the more we listen to those directly affected by the issues we care about, the clearer our path to making a difference becomes.

Which brings me to our choice this November.

Kamala Harris understands the importance of social support, a lesson she learned firsthand growing up in a working-class neighborhood in the Bay Area. In her DNC speech, she spoke of the community that helped raise her—neighbors who became family by love, not by blood. Kamala has consistently recognized that addressing societal issues requires more than just policy changes; it requires building strong, supportive communities where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

And Kamala is not just a politician who talks about problems, or panders to our base instincts. She digs into root causes, takes time to listen, and seeks real solutions. For example, as a prosecutor, she identified the link between absenteeism in schools with later involvement in the criminal justice system, leading to innovative programs that aimed to address the root causes of crime, rather than just the symptoms. This kind of thoughtful, people-centered leadership is exactly what we need in the Oval Office.

We need a leader who will engage with a wide range of voices, not just the fringes; a leader who understands that good decision-making requires spending time with those who are most directly affected by policies; in short, a leader who “leads and listens,” as Kamala herself promised to do in her DNC speech.

By contrast, Donald Trump thrives on division and distraction. He is an energy vampire, pulling focus away from the hard work that needs to be done. He lacks the humility, curiosity, and decency we need right now.

We’ve reemerged from the pandemic; now it’s time to reconnect with one another. We need results-driven innovation rooted in local stories and feedback loops, not an exhausting reality show sequel with only one main character. Kamala will be an attentive, compassionate commander in chief, rather than our chief distraction.

On November 5, 2024, the choice is clear. Vote for Kamala.

Kevin F. Adler is the author of When We Walk By, and the founder of Miracle Messages, a nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness.