This document summarizes the first New York State conference on adult education for the homeless. The conference addressed issues facing homeless people, such as education, social services, employment and training, housing, drug and substance abuse, and mental health. Successful programs, policies, practices, and the latest research were highlighted. Concurrent and cooperative workshops were held by the New York State Life Management Conference, and association of life skills educators. The report includes the agenda; summary and highlights of general sessions; summary of concurrent workshops; description of the life management conference; lists of conference exhibitors, participants, and the conference planning committee; and description of a collection of homeless portraits following: introduction/welcome (Kadamus); ideas about meeting educational needs of the homeless (Murphy); programs of the Interagency Council on the Homeless, Washington, D.C. (Carlile); GATEWAY--Gaining Access to the Emerging Workforce for Adults and Youth (Gillette); information about initiatives that New York is taking in education and social services for the homeless (Lundine); continuing education for homeless people (Laks); services for people with disabilities (Duncan-Poitier); services for substance abusers (Roman-Nay); housing programs for homeless people (Napoli); employment services (Cardona); and a story about a homeless person (Stoops). (KC) [abstract]