The Greater Boston Union of the Homeless (GBUH) held a symposium Saturday to publicize the situation of homeless people in the area and to raise money to support its activities.

Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis gave the symposium a boost by proclaiming Saturday Homeless Unity Day in Massachusetts and by sending aide Irene Lee to speak in his place.

The day's events included an afternoon program with a luncheon and an introduction to the GBUH's fledgling Leadership Training Workshop for the homeless. An evening benefit program featured readings by local poets.

At the luncheon, Lee read a message from Dukakis calling for recognition of the "right of the homeless to adequate housing."

In the message, Dukakis claimed that "Massachusetts has put more money into developing affordable housing through its three housing bond issues since 1983 than the entire federal government [since 1983]."

Following the luncheon, the audience, which included local religious leaders, social activists and homeless members of the union, participated in a workshop for the GBUH's Leadership Training Program.

Leadership Program

GBUH President Savina Martin said the Leadership Training Program--which will last eight weeks--is an attempt to "empower the homeless." The program gives homeless people intensive training in organizing their peers for political ends and teaches them to carry out self-help programs in the shelters where they live, Martin said.

The day's events closed with a poetry reading in Sanders Theater. A group of about 60, including students, homeless persons and other community residents, listened to several Boston-area poets read from their work.

The poets included the locally known and respected Vincent Ferrini, Jeannette Maes and R.U. Outavit. But it was Andy Kane, a homeless man living in Boston, who took the spotlight, said Maes. She said Kane's work gave a special focus to the day's events because he "brought together the experiences of the poets and the homeless."

Marching Through Georgia

A busload of homeless members of GBUH will head south this Saturday to take part in the Atlanta March for the Homeless.

Martin said she was disappointed by the low turnout at the poetry reading since limited receipts from the program will require the GBUH to look for other ways to finance their trip to Atlanta.

The March has taken on added significance because it comes three days before Super Tuesday, when national political attention is focused on the South, said Gene Spurling, a Dukakis aide.

Lee said that Dukakis had considered speaking to the Atlanta marchers, along with Sen. Albert Gore (D-Tenn.) and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. But Spurling said that this is uncertain in view of scheduling conflicts.