Homelessness is a major issue of concern in the United States, and particularly in St. Petersburg. In recent months, St. Petersburg found itself in the international spotlight with a series of highly publicized events involving tent cities, police and box cutters. The attention galvanized the city, which is now working, like many other cities around the country, to implement a ten-year plan to eradicate homelessness from the area.

Despite all of the media attention, negative perceptions of homeless people persist. They are widely viewed as lazy, shiftless, freeloaders, drug-addicted, crazy – the detritus of society. The reality is that many of the homeless people of St. Petersburg find themselves in the on the streets as the result of a couple of poor decisions and some bad luck. It’s important for us to remember this, particularly in today’s economically fragile world, when so many of us are vulnerable to the same sort of forces responsible for the growing problem of homelessness.

The goal of this project is to make the argument that homeless people are not that different from people who are not homeless. We feel the best way to combat this disconnect between perception and reality is through the ancient art of story telling. Using a video camera, we’ll let the people of the tent cities tell their own stories. How did they end up on the street? What is life like for them on the street? What do they think they’d need in order to get out? Using our laptops and the internet, we’ll compile the footage into a mini-documentary and then release it for the world to see.

Excellent connection! Photo share, story swap, yes, wiki it up!

-ShareRiff

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Critique of Homeless Leadership Network