More than 400 housing and homeless service providers found themselves face to face with a small group of protesters at Monday’s Yes We Will Conference. And that wasn’t a problem; they were there for the same reason.

Members of the Rhode Island Bank Owned Tenants and Homeowners Association came out to protest what they consider to be the unfairness of bank foreclosures forcing people out of their homes.

“Banks say they are not in the business of owning property, but if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem,” said Theresa Price.

Price also said people need to realize that homelessness does not just happen to derelicts; they could be anyone’s next-door neighbors.

A wave of confusion seemed to waft over the conference members as they sat in the ballroom of the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

They were there for a daylong workshop about battling homelessness and developing affordable housing, which was in direct accord with what the protestors were saying.

Although Price’s group originally came to the conference to protest outside, once organizers realized what they wanted to say they were invited in.

“We are all fighting for the same thing, so I thought they would rather have the entire audience to speak to instead of just a few people at a time,” said Karen Jeffreys of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless.

Jeffreys said that even though the groups may disagree on certain issues and tactics, they are fighting parallel battles.

The goal of the conference was to allow housing and homeless service providers from around the state to come together and discuss different troubles they were facing and make connections with others in the field.

The conference was sponsored by the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, the Housing and Action Coalition of Rhode Island, the Corporation for Supportive Housing and the Housing Network of Rhode Island.

Following the morning display, keynote speaker Makani Themba-Nixon delivered a poignant speech to the more than 400 in attendance about the importance of creating concrete solutions and equitable policies in order to fight homelessness.

“I hope that after this conference people will have a clearer idea of what they are fighting for and realize that everything they need is right here; each other,” said Themba-Nixon.

Themba-Nixon is the executive director of The Praxis Project, a nonprofit organization helping communities use media and policy advocacy to advance health equity and justice. Themba-Nixon stresses the importance of understanding the history behind social problems in order to better understand ways to combat them.

“We have all kinds of information about people with problems, but no information about people in power. We need to know who are the people making decisions affecting our community,” said Themba-Nixon.

Charlotte Ryan, a local university professor, said that Themba-Nixon’s amazing strength comes from being a national leader, while still managing to keep her fingers in grassroots organizations.

“While she [Themba-Nixon] has direct personal experience in dealing with homelessness and social issues, she is also able to pull back and paint a portrait of how wide this problem is in the nation and how policy change can affect the problem,” said Ryan.

Ryan is personally invested in battling homelessness because of what she is seeing in her classroom.

“In just one of my classes of 30 students, three have become homeless this semester,” said Ryan.

While the students come from all different walks of life, and are homeless for different reasons, Ryan feels that they all deserve a better chance.

Tom Miller, associate director of House of Hope, said he hoped to expand his personal knowledge during the conference and gain insight into what other people are doing.

“We are all a piece of the puzzle, and that finished puzzle is a home with a family in it,” said Miller.

House of Hope is a nonprofit organization that provides permanent housing to families and individuals in need.

Members of the House of Hope were part of a morning sponsorship display in which they showcased their House of Hope Boutique Originals, or HOHBO.

HOHBO began as a social service initiative designed to give residents an opportunity to express themselves positively through creativity and accomplish a concrete goal. The initiative has grown into a full-time business initiative, providing income for residents.

HOHBO’s workshop is located at the Fran Conway House, an 11-unit housing property that provides permanent housing for disabled adults. In the basement of the house, HOHBO has sewing machines and raw materials such as fabric and old jeans set up for manufacturing. There, the women create products such as purses and decorative cloth wine bags. The project is funded by various stipends and allows some women to receive pay for approximately 15 hours of work per week.

“This program helps women get back into the rhythm of working. Out of the initial three women we trained, two have gone on to full-time work with other companies such as Citizens Bank,” said Wells.

The program has trained eight women so far. They are hoping to partner with other organizations in their December training class and even have some men interested in joining.

Laura Deady, a graduate of the University of Rhode Island textile program, and Jeremy D’Ambra, a student currently enrolled in the URI textile program, run the training portion of the program.