Making a Meaningful Impact
Grant Denton - Karma Box Project
Wednesday, Mar 16
Speaker: 3 – 4 pm / Networking: 2 – 3 pm
NEW LOCATION: UNR Innevation Center
Register for free tickets below
Grant Denton
If you close your eyes and say the words, "homeless, addicted, and mentally ill," what do you see? Whatever you see will be based on all your previous ideas and experiences. Maybe even some hidden biases that you didn't know you had.
Homelessness, addiction and mental illness are not only increasing in our region, but all over the nation. So, as a community, what do we do? What CAN we do? It seems pretty overwhelming and you're right, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. But the good news is there ARE things that you can do right now and it doesn't take much. It starts with having a better understanding of how we got here, how we can get out and what's in our sphere of influence.
Grant’s presentation includes:
Identifying the four different types of homelessness and how quick situational can turn to chronic.
Learning to understand how can the four constants of living unsheltered can exacerbate or even create mental illness.
It’s always a good feeling when we help, but what are the unintended consequences of helping and how can we avoid them?
Exploring some stories of a few new projects that we’re working on that show how there is safety in unconditional acceptance.
What is our desired outcome as a community, what’s our call to action, and if all the planets align, what can we expect.
About our Speaker
Grant Denton has overcome significant diversity. Childhood abuse and abandonment, drug addiction and a life of crime, to emerge as a leading advocate for folks in need, especially the unhoused.
Denton burned through jobs. He became addicted to drugs and was in and out of homelessness from 2007 to 2013.
In 2013, Denton was arrested on burglary charges that could have sent him to prison for five to seven years. The judge gave him a choice: enter drug court and rehab or go to prison. On Dec. 28, 2014, Denton used illegal drugs for the last time. “That was It! I was done,” he says.
Denton moved to Reno for a fresh start, working in sober living, a homeless shelter, for the Downtown Reno Business Improvement District, and in an addiction treatment center, where he formed a crew of community volunteers that lead to the Karma Box Project.
In 2018, Denton founded the innovative Karma Box Project that installed about 50 donation boxes across Northern Nevada. People place nonperishable foods, hygiene products and other items in the boxes, and folks remove what they need. The boxes are painted by local artists or members of the community.
More recently the non-profit has grown from initiating a workforce program for the unsheltered called the River Stewards, geared towards cleaning trash off the Truckee, to running a homeless outreach team on the streets. The Karma Box Project also has helped to create and operate Nevada’s first sanctioned safe camp community, as well as an overflow shelter. Karma Box is expanding its programs to meet the needs of the unsheltered throughout the region.
Beginning in February, the NCET’s Biz Café moves to our new home at the University of Nevada, Reno Innevation Center
University of Nevada, Reno Innevation Center
450 Sinclair Street
Reno, NV 89501 (map)
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