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.

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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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