Author: phungamy

Tech & Nonprofits Collaborate for Hack to End Homelessness, May 1-4

We built a community empowered by technology & design thinking

to solve the problem of homelessness together.

– Candace Faber, Hackathon Project Manager

At Seattle’s first-ever Hack to End Homelessness, May 3-4 at the Impact Hub, more than 60 technologists, graphic designers and storytellers worked side by side with nonprofit service providers and advocacy organizations.  The purpose of the weekend was to build technology tools that the nonprofits can use for service and advocacy.

Hackathon participants working Michael Maine
During the Hackathon, teams worked together for 36+ hours building projects. Photo by Michael B. Maine.

Our project served as the community liaison, connecting the Hackathon organizers to the dozen community partners. This video describes how Seattle U students, faculty and staff participated — as organizers, volunteers and even hackers.

There were 12 teams of 3-7 people each, plus three additional people who floated. One team worked through the night to create an intake interface for YouthCare that will help them place homeless youth in shelters. Another generated incredible insights on our city’s homeless population and their reasons for remaining unsheltered, based on data collected earlier in the week at United Way’s Community Resource Exchange at CenturyLink Field.

 

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by Categories: Collaboration, Events, Family Homelessness, Films about HomelessnessTags: , , , , , , , , 10 Comments

“@home,” Mark Horvath and Three Wishes for Solving Homelessness

The many faces of Mark Horvath and his good friend, social media, as shown in the new film “@home.” Original art by Haley Jo Lewis.

 

Written by Haley Jo Lewis, Seattle University communications major and project assistant, Seattle University’s Project on Family Homelessness. Originally posted at www.FiresteelWA.org

If you had three wishes, what would they be?

Would you even think to wish for a home? Maybe a bigger one, perhaps, if you already have one.

While interviewing people who are homeless, social media pioneer and homelessness advocate Mark Horvath always ends his conversations with a question: “If you had three wishes, what would they be?”

In the new documentary about him, “@home,” the people Mark interviews, without fail, wish for a home.

Still from Horvath’s film “@home”

 

Read more of Haley Jo’s post at our partner Firesteel’s blog.

by Categories: Family Homelessness, JournalismTags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

Journalism Project in Pierce County Wins National Award

South Sound Magazine photoWe’re thrilled to announce that our Journalism Fellow project in Pierce County has won a prestigious Sigma Delta Chi journalism award in the Public Service Journalism category.

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) today announced South Sound magazine, based in Tacoma, Wash., was honored for its in-depth report “The State of Family Homelessness in Pierce County,”  written by our Seattle University Journalism Fellow Jeff Burlingame.

The awards recognize the nation’s outstanding professional journalism. According to SPJ, the Public Service category is not only judged on the quality of the article, but on evidence of courage and initiative in overcoming opposition, effectiveness of presentation and results earned.

The team and all the winners will be honored at the award ceremony in Washington, D.C. on June 20. Congratulations, Jeff and team!  For more about the award, visit http://www.spj.org/sdxa13.asp.

Read the Series Here 

To read more about all our original Journalism Fellows projects, visit our Web site.

by Categories: Family Homelessness, JournalismTags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Welcome to our new blog!

The Seattle University Project on Family Homelessness has developed this blog to bring more dynamic content to our partner organizations and others interested in learning about family homelessness in their communities.  On these pages you can find information about our program, our partner organizations and our projects, as well as facts and news about family homelessness.  Please browse our site, offer your comments and suggestions, and help us provide the best information we can to help people address this important issue.

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Alexandra Pelosi: “Motel Kids”

Filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi visited Seattle and Tacoma in January 2011 to share her HBO documentary, “Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County”  (available at www.hbo.com and www.amazon.com, and via HBONow).

APelosi

Ms. Pelosi screened the film for a group of 100 providers in Tacoma at the Grand Cinema, Jan. 20, then brought it to more than 400 film enthusiasts of SIFF Cinema that night.

  • Read the Real Change News profile of Ms. Pelosi by our Journalism Fellow Rosette Royale, then assistant editor of Real Change, here.  Rosette went on the ride with us when we drove Ms. Pelosi down to Tacoma and back, and the result is another terrific piece with the Rosette touch.
  • Watch a YouTube video from Ms. Pelosi’s SIFF Q&A, below.

The film remains one of the most compelling ever made about homelessness in our country. Ms. Pelosi had spent a summer living at the motel where many Orange County homeless families were living — in stark contrast to the fantasy world of Disneyland across the road, where some of the parents were working. Five years later, we’re still struck by the stories of children in the film. Highly recommended!  

If this project motivated you to take action, please view, “What Can We Do?” to learn about ways you can make a difference. 
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