EDC Community Event: A Conversation with Deogratias "Deo" Niyizonkiza

The Eviction Defense Collaborative (EDC) is pleased to host Deogratias "Deo" Niyizonkiza as part of our new EDC Community Event Series. Deo is Founder and CEO of Village Health Works and subject of Tracy Kidder’s book Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder.

EDC fights to uphold housing as a basic human right, helping people stay in their homes and protecting San Francisco’s most vulnerable populations from eviction and homelessness. We are excited to offer this conversation with Deo, who with lived experience of homelessness after surviving a civil war and genocide.

Light refreshments, including wine and finger foods, will be served. Donations will be welcome, but optional, at the event itself.

More about the book

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder

“The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder returns with the extraordinary true story of Deo, a young man who arrives in America from Burundi in search of a new life. After surviving a civil war and genocide, he ekes out a precarious existence delivering groceries, living in Central Park, and learning English by reading dictionaries in bookstores until he begins to meet the strangers who will change his life, pointing him eventually in the direction of Columbia University, medical school, and a life devoted to healing.”

More about EDC

The Eviction Defense Collaborative (EDC) believes that housing is a basic human right. EDC fights to uphold this right, helping people stay in their homes and protecting San Francisco’s most vulnerable populations from eviction and homelessness. We work to reach housing solutions through an integrated, collaborative approach that brings together free legal representation, rental assistance, and support for residents of homeless shelters. EDC provides support services that address root causes of homelessness and advocates for changes to address the unfairness and inequity in housing. EDC is a lifeline for people faced with losing their homes. We are here to help.

Host or Publisher Eviction Defense Collaborative