Homeless people in Boise face many challenges, including where to sleep, where to find food and how to get around. But one homeless advocate found that one of the biggest challenges of being homeless is proving who you are. Getting a legal, photo ID, if you don’t have one, can be almost impossible.
Jodi Peterson is the co-director of the Interfaith Sanctuary shelter. She ran into this problem while trying to help a homeless man, nicknamed Bodhi. He lived for a time at Cooper Court, the makeshift homeless encampment that sprang up in downtown Boise in 2015. He asked Peterson to help him get a legal ID; a necessary first step to getting everything from benefits to housing.
Peterson will tell Bodhi’s story to a TEDx Boise audience on Saturday. TEDx is a local version of a TED Talk event. It will be held at JUMP in downtown Boise.
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