Following the success of Oxford Reads Together 2024, we invite the Oxford community to join us in a new, expanded reading journey this year. Our goal is to enhance our community’s understanding of the depth and breadth of the homelessness crisis as the first step towards developing compassionate, evidence-based solutions.
OASH, in partnership with the Oxford Lane Library, will be hosting the following events as part of the Oxford Reads Together 2025 program:
- Program launch: Sunday, September 7, 2025, 2:00–4:00 pm. Screening of a documentary film, Evicting the American Dream, at the Oxford Community Arts Center. This film documentary amplifies the voices of Dayton children and families confronting homelessness and eviction, exploring the root causes and systematic issues of this epidemic. After the film, viewers are invited to stay for a panel discussion featuring local experts and community partners.
- Book reading and discussion groups: September 7–October 26, 2025. Join a group, or form a group to read and discuss one of our three book selections this year:
- The In-Between by Katie Van Heidrich. New this year, OASH selected a middle-grade memoir that chronicles a young girl and her family who must start over after losing their home. This would be a great option for those who would like to form an intergenerational book discussion group.
- Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending US Poverty by Joanne Samuel Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox. “Water. Food. Housing. The most basic and crucial needs for survival, yet 40 percent of people in the United States don’t have the resources to get them. With key policy changes, we could eradicate poverty in this country within our lifetime—but we need to get started now.“
- Facing Eviction and Housing Insecurity: Listening to Community Voices, by Katherine R. Rowell (Ed.). This volume includes the voices of over fifty men, women, and children who have experienced or witnessed housing injustice. The stories follow the lives of adults and children in the throes of eviction and homelessness, and those who are part of the housing systems including the courts, landlords, and advocates.
Note: Oxford Lane Library will be hosting a discussion of Facing Eviction and Housing Insecurity on Thursday, Oct. 9, from 6:30–7:30 PM at the Helen Weinberger Activity Room. To register for the Lane Library discussion, visit the Oxford Lane Library Events page. For all other groups, register via the button below.
- Wrap-Up Discussion: Sunday, October 26, 2025, 2:00–4:00 pm, Havighurst Meeting Room @Oxford Lane Library. This is an opportunity for those who participated in the Oxford Reads discussions and/or the Evicting the American Dream program to discuss what we learned, what we have questions about, and what action items could take place as a result.