FROM THE EDITOR: David Cooper Saw the World as Few Can
In April, Cooper will step away as CEO from the Brisben Center. He enjoyed committed supporters, and spirited detractors. His unique understanding of homelessness made us better.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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At the end of my recent interview with Brian Goldstone about his book There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America, I asked what local reporters can do to better cover the complexities of homelessness.
“No one has asked me that,” he said. After a moment, he delivered a challenging response: “Quit talking to the CEOs” and start talking to the people who live homelessness.
A few days later, I was talking to one of the very few people I know who walks in both worlds.
For more than eight years, David Cooper has been working with the homeless in his capacity as CEO of the Thurman Brisben Center. Watching that work and listening to him talk about his commitment to the people in Brisben’s care, has from my first discussion with him, inspired me. This is not easy work, and neither I — nor most people — could daily carry and do what he does.
Though I found Cooper inspiring, I didn’t at first find him to be distinctive in his work. I harbor this same level of respect for almost everyone I have written about over the years across the country and around the globe who are engaged professionally in serving the homeless — from people in San Franciso; New York City; and Philadelphia; to Durham, N.C.; Accra, Ghana; and right here in Fredericksburg.
Yet, Cooper is distinctive. For many more years than his time at Brisben, and probably for the remaining years of his life, Cooper has lived and will continue to live the pain of homelessness as only a father can. His daughter has long struggled with both mental and physical challenges that have kept her cycling in and out of homelessness. Today, she continues to struggle to find the support she needs.
There are many who have known homelessness, then gone on to work professionally with the homeless population. But Cooper is singular among those I’ve met over the years for so long dealing daily with homelessness both personally and professionally.
This tension gives Cooper a distinctive experience. Those who professionally deal with trauma — first responders, medical professionals, and people who work with the homeless — find a way of mentally freeing themselves from the emotional turmoil they confront. Some find escape in faith, others in the creative arts, and still others in more mundane tasks like sports.
Finding this freedom from their professional obligations is about more than mental health, though certainly it is vital for that. It’s critical to remaining effective in their career.
Until Tuesday, Cooper had not known that freedom.
In April, however, he will finally find a bit of that freedom when he steps down as CEO of Brisben.
Over the past eight years, Cooper has known professional success. According to the press release distributed late Tuesday afternoon, Cooper led the organization through a rebranding, “expanded [Brisben’s] programs, and strengthened its multidisciplinary teams to provide wraparound, accountability-based support to assist families and individuals.”
There were trying times as well. Cooper is a critic of the federal policy known as Housing First, a position that put him at odds with several organizations in the area that serve the homeless. He also aggressively defended the center’s responsibility to protect those families living at the center by keeping individuals with alcohol or drug issues out of Brisben, a stance that generated community debate and led at times to acrimonious arguments.
Cooper’s leaving will, for a while, ease some of those tensions. Change always provides an opportunity for communities to reset and rethink how they approach a challenge like homelessness.
But it is important that we not forget who we are losing — a deeply committed advocate who understands professionally and personally the intransigence of homelessness in a way few can.
His professional and personal experience of homelessness showed that hope is possible and that people can move from homelessness to homes; it also daily reminded him that for some, a home and hope will always be just out of reach. Regardless of the help before them.
Perhaps that’s why Cooper enjoyed committed support from some and experienced deep frustration from others.
Some simply see the world in ways most of us cannot. Cooper — for better and worse — is one of those people.
Our community is stronger for the work Cooper has done, and for the world he allowed us to see.
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