For homeless and low-income people who don't fit into Maine's traditional social service system, the Preble Street Resource Center (rhymes with "pebble") is a lifeline. The Portland-based organization offers everything from day shelter and food pantry services to employment counseling, housing location assistance, and HIV prevention. But rather than simply provide these stop-gap services, Preble Street's Consumer Advocacy Project is organizing low-income and homeless people to participate in the state's political and social agenda and improve the systems that serve them. At a recent legislative hearing on cuts to a state-funded education program for homeless kids, Preble Street brought in kids who testified to the importance of the program. Another effort is underway to pass a state affordable housing bond bill. The group also holds voter registration drives, accompanies new voters on voting day, and hosts a candidates' forum at the center, which for the first time in 2002 drew all the gubernatorial candidates on the ballot. Donna Yellen, Preble Street lead organizer, says these forums are an important way for politicians to learn about poverty and homelessness first-hand.

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