Oxford Reads Together 2025 aims to educate and inform on homelessness

Oxford Reads Together 2025 is a community-wide book discussion on homelessness and housing and is beginning its series of discussions in Oxford at the start of September. It aims to “enhance Oxford’s understanding of the depth and breadth of the homelessness crisis as the first step towards developing compassionate, evidence-based solutions,” according to its website.  

The program is set to launch on Sept. 7 with a screening of the documentary “Evicting the American Dream” at the Oxford Community Arts Center from 2-4 p.m. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion. Light refreshments will be provided to attendees. 

A second screening of the documentary will be shown on Sept. 9 from 5:30-7:00 p.m. at the Oxford Lane Library. Pizza will be provided for the screening.

The program was started by Oxford Area Solutions for Housing (OASH) in partnership with Oxford Lane Library, who will host the discussions.

Rebecca Smith, branch manager at Oxford Lane Library, explained the importance of the library’s involvement in the program. 

“I think the public library is a place for all,” she said. “We are a place to discuss things and to brainstorm and to come together and talk about difficult things such as homelessness.”

Oxford Lane Library will host the discussion regarding the book “Facing Eviction and Housing Insecurity, edited by Katherine R. Rowell.” 

The other three books available through the program are “Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending US Poverty” by Joanne Samuel Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox, “The In-Between” by Katie Van Heidrich and “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America” by Brian Goldstone.

Each book discussion will meet once between Sept. 7 and Oct. 26, 2025. Group leaders are in charge of determining the book they will discuss and the time and date of the meeting. 

John Bailer, University Distinguished Professor, emeritus, founding chair of the Department of Statistics at Miami University and co-creator of the “Stats+Stories” podcast, took part in the program last year.

“People were able to hear voices of people and an experience that they may not have had before,” he said. 

Bailer hopes that the program’s success last year will translate to 2025’s discussions. 

This year, Bailer is facilitating the discussion group covering the book “Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending US Poverty.”

Bailer expressed his hope for participants in the program to take something away from it.

“I hope people have a better sense of the challenges that are faced by some of our neighbors in this community in which we live,” he said. “If we have appreciation of some of the issues [and] the challenges, maybe we will get glimmers of possible things we can do to make this better.”

Bailer hopes that the knowledge shared from these discussions can possibly be used as a foundation for future action.

The Greater Oxford Community Foundation and the Eradicating Systemic Poverty Team of the Oxford Presbyterian Church also took part in supporting the program.

To learn more, participate in the program, lead a discussion or join one, visit the Oxford Reads Together website.