When Joseph Campbell describes the monomyth, the Hero's journey that is woven through each of our mythologies and traditions, he speaks of a moment that he calls "crossing the first threshold.” We usually meet our hero in the ordinary world, he receives the call to adventure, refuses the call until he meets a mentor, and then decides to rise to his true capability. This is when he crosses the first threshold.

The heroic journey Sarasota is on, which is shared by civilized communities around the world, has the end of homelessness as its destination. Our call to adventure was outlined in the Step Up Plan To End Homelessness In Sarasota County In Ten Years, and was summarily declined when first offered to our local government representatives. In consideration of our quest, we hired a mentor by the name of Robert Marbut, and though we applied some of his teachings, we felt that we knew better than to adopt his institution, and now stand poised to cross the threshold of realizing our own ability to end this crisis creatively.

As we arise to be heroic, we are blessed to have the heroic gene among us, as some have already crossed the threshold. The Housing First initiative spear-headed by Harvey Vengroff at the Oak Ridge Apartments shows the possibility of lives being changed through cooperative endeavor. Already we can see, as we open up to the reality of homes as an answer to homelessness, that allies in Utah, Colorado and elsewhere are ready to help us on our journey, so that together we may overcome the adversaries and challenges that await us.

We can reach this goal of ending homelessness, but as with all hero's journeys, we must let go of who we have been in order to become what we wish to be. According to homeless advocate Tom Rebman, who is living homeless in a number of Florida cities to gauge their effectiveness in dealing with homelessness, Sarasota is no longer the meanest city to homeless people. Should we truly wish to reinvent ourselves and rise to our fullest potential, it will be by becoming the most loving city to homeless people through a Housing First initiative.