Tag: Seattle U students

“Create Change” — A Day to Change How We Think about Art, Advocacy and Homelessness

By Mandy Rusch, Digital Design Project Assistant, Project on Family Homelessness

Art is my coping mechanism. During the artistic process, there is power in the hands of the maker. Regardless of whether anyone sees the result or even if it is “good,” this power is healing, inspiring and uplifting.

At The Seattle Public Library’s “Create Change: Youth & Family Homelessness and the Arts” event on Oct. 29, 2016, I had the opportunity to come together with a community of people to find out how art can be used to take action towards ending youth and family homelessness. You can see an in-depth description of the full day of performances, speakers and arts events here in this story by my colleague Shan.

Continue reading →

by Categories: Collaboration, Events, Family Homelessness, Streetwise, Youth PovertyTags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

There Is No Perfect Answer — What I Learned from “Tiny – The Life of Erin Blackwell”

 

By Shan Yonamine, Project Assistant, Seattle University Project on Family Homelessness

Erin crying and smoking, Seattle, 2004
Erin crying and smoking, Seattle, 2004. Photo by Mary Ellen Mark.

 

The first thing that I wanted after seeing “Streetwise” was answers. After watching the acclaimed 1984 documentary  and getting such a candid look into the lives of the nine children, I felt as though I developed an intimate connection to each of them. I knew that “Streetwise” was only one chapter in each of their stories, and I desperately wanted to know more.

In fact, I felt entitled to know more. After all, they had opened up their lives for all to see in the most raw, uncensored way. Wouldn’t they be used to sharing their lives with the world by now?

This is why I was so excited to attend the screening of “Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell” – the new film about one of the children in “Streetwise” — at The Seattle Public Library on Oct. 14. Both “Tiny” herself — Erin Blackwell — and director Martin Bell would be the special guests.

As I took my seat in the audience, I couldn’t help but wonder what I would find out from Erin and Martin about the “stars” of “Streetwise.” Where are they now? Are they still homeless? Are they still struggling with addiction? Or, had things gotten better for them? Maybe they got the help they needed. Maybe the film was a turning point for them. Maybe some of them are here today. All of these thoughts filled my mind as the lights dimmed and the movie began. I was ready for answers.

Continue reading →

by Categories: Events, Family Homelessness, Films about Homelessness, Homelessness Among Schoolchildren, Journalism, Streetwise, Youth PovertyTags: , , , 2 Comments

“The Uncomfortable Conversation” — Using “Streetwise” as a Tool for Advocacy

Editor’s Note: As part of our ongoing “Streetwise Revisited” work, our student project assistants are blogging about key events. Both Khadija and Shan wrote about the “Streetwise” screening, first Khadija and now Shan.

By Shan Yonamine, Project Assistant, Seattle University Project on Family Homelessness

 

streetwise-campus-screening-poster
Poster for our campus screening of “Streetwise,” designed by Amy Phung.

 

“It didn’t change anything for us then,” said Erin “Tiny” Blackwell’s daughter Keanna Pickett about the impact of the documentary “Streetwise” on her family. “When people watch it, it’s a movie. You’re able to go about your life after you watch it.” In other words, Keanna was able to remove herself emotionally because the film can elicit powerful emotions that may be uncomfortable to deal with.

However, when “Tiny’s” daughter tells you that “Streetwise” should be used as the catalyst for an “uncomfortable conversation” about family and youth homelessness, you listen. Continue reading →

by Categories: Collaboration, Events, Family Homelessness, Films about Homelessness, Homelessness Among Schoolchildren, Journalism, Streetwise, Youth PovertyTags: , , , , , 4 Comments

A Tribute to Barry Mitzman

As our founder leaves, we reflect on what he’s taught our community about ending family homelessness

By Catherine Hinrichsen, Project Director
Sharon James_Barry at end
Barry Mitzman, delivering his lecture “A Quiet Crisis,” in which he reflects on six years leading our family homelessness projects at Seattle University. Photo by Steve Schimmelman.

Continue reading →

by Categories: Collaboration, Events, Family Homelessness, Films about Homelessness, JournalismTags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

Reclaiming Their Story: A Reflection on New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward

By Lindsey Habenicht, Project Assistant, Project on Family Homelessness and Seattle University Strategic Communications senior

Editor’s Note: Lindsey recently went to New Orleans for a spring-break service trip. We asked her to reflect on how her experience relates to the work we do on our project. She found a city still struggling to recover but filled with people who are amazingly resilient. Here is her report.

img_0415
A home in the Lower Ninth Ward with markings from after Katrina, reading “Don’t demolish.” Many of the houses in this neighborhood still wear spray-painted messages and markings from the initial rescue efforts. Photo by Lindsey Habenicht.

When I saw the Lower Ninth Ward for the first time, I immediately noticed the water marks that were eight feet high or above on some of the buildings, and the spray-painted markings on many houses. Those markings told, among other things, the number of victims – dead or alive – found inside the structure, or made a plea to leave the home as is.

Continue reading →

by Categories: Family Homelessness, Homelessness Among SchoolchildrenTags: , , , Leave a comment

Making an Infographic on Homelessness: The Designer’s Tale

By Amy Phung, Digital Design Project Assistant, Seattle University Project on Family Homelessness

AllHomeInfographic FINAL WITH SOURCES 2-3-16

Between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2016, over 1,000 volunteers set out to count the number of people outside, unsheltered in King County during the 36th annual One Night Count. In preparation for this day, I along with our fierce project manager, Catherine Hinrichsen, and previous Digital Design Project Assistant, McKenna Haley, worked through the month of January to create a visual element to represent the One Night Count results for our partners at All Home. Continue reading →

by Categories: Collaboration, Family Homelessness, Journalism, Youth PovertyTags: , , , , 1 Comment

Two Worlds Collide: Inequality in America

A “Sleep Out” in Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza during Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week in mid-November. Photo Credit: Laura Tarnosky, <a href="http://streetsense.org/article/covenant-house-advocates-freedom-plaza-sleep-out-previews-vigil/#.VlzIkmSrRz9" target="_blank"><span class="s1">Street Sense.</span></a>
A “Sleep Out” in Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza during Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week in mid-November. Photo Credit: Laura Tarnosky, Street Sense.
Written by Lindsey Habenicht, Seattle University student and project assistant, Seattle University Project on Family Homelessness

Wandering around the streets of downtown Washington, D.C., and trying to find the building where I interned for the summer, I passed by eight people on the streets. A cacophony of voices—begging and pleading for someone to help—overwhelmed me, as did my inability to help them on my own. I had been in the District for less than 24 hours and already witnessed the plight of people who are homeless in excruciating detail. No matter where I walked, I continued to hear the same calls:

“Excuse me, do you have any change?”

Continue reading →

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

A Night of Optimism About Homelessness — All Home’s “Engage-Raiser”

 

Erin with frame snip
Our partner Erin Murphy of Housing Development Consortium inspired this “Polaroid frame” designed for maximum photo sharing, complete with logo and hashtag #allhomeoptimism.

More than 200 energized community members gathered at the new Optimism Brewing Co. on Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood Tuesday night, Nov. 17, for “All Home @ Optimism.” Continue reading →

by Categories: Events, Family Homelessness, Films about HomelessnessTags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Portraits of Homelessness

Sharing the Depth of the Human Experience: “Portraits of Homelessness” at the 2015 Global Street Paper Summit

By Lindsey Habenicht, Project Assistant, Seattle University Project on Family Homelessness

Lindsey with conference passEditor’s Note: Seattle University hosted the International Network of Street Papers (INSP)  Global Street Paper Summit June 24-26, 2015, which welcomed more than 120 journalists from street papers in 22 countries, including Seattle’s Real Change. Our assistant, Lindsey Habenicht (above), is spending the summer as an intern for one of those papers, Street Sense of Washington, D.C. Before she left Seattle, Lindsey attended the Summit as a street paper communicator and volunteer blogger. This is an adapted version of Lindsey’s post for the Summit.

The narrative of what homelessness is and is not is often uninformed, uneducated, and even unknown completely. While many are aware of the issue of homelessness, they remain unaware of the person: the veteran, the child, the musician, the artist, the entrepreneur, and the like.

“Why is that?” asked Rex Hohlbein of Facing Homelessness. “How could [we] be so disconnected from the simple and obvious fact that homelessness involves real people with real suffering?”

Rex

Keynote speaker Rex Holbein started the Facebook page “Homeless in Seattle”’ in March of 2011 to share something beautiful about each person living on the street. Photo courtesy of facinghomelessness.org

Rex was the keynote speaker at the Global Street Paper Summit’s opening night event, “Portraits of Homelessness,” June 24, which told stories through more than 100 works of visual art, films and audio recordings. Continue reading →

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

Journalists Talk About Homelessness at Search for Meaning Book Festival

Kelley and Royale

Two award-winning journalists — featured speakers at the Search for Meaning Book Festival at Seattle University — will give an inside look at the challenges of reporting on homelessness during a special add-on session at the Festival.  “Coffee Talk with Tina Kelley and Rosette Royale” is Saturday, Feb. 28, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. in Pigott 204.

Festival tickets are required for the keynotes and author sessions, but admission to this intimate conversation is free. The first people in line will receive a complimentary copy of Tina Kelley’s book (see below). Seattle U Communication students, Theology and Ministry students, homelessness advocates and Real Change vendors are encouraged to attend. The session is hosted by the Seattle University Center for Strategic Communications and the School of Theology and Ministry.

Did you know? Seattle University faculty, staff and students, as well as Real Change vendors, can attend the entire Festival for free.  If you are a student, please reserve your Festival tickets at student registration; faculty or staff members, visit faculty and staff registration. Real Change vendors should go to the Registration Tent to register and indicate that they are vendors (bring your badge). For all other community members, tickets to the festival can be purchased for $10.

It is Seattle University’s goal as an institution that cost should not prohibit attendance. If cost would directly prohibit your attendance of Search for Meaning 2015, please contact register@seattleu.edu.

About the Authors: Tina Kelley is a former New York Times, Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter, and co-author of the national best-seller about youth homelessness, “Almost Home: Helping Kids Move from Homelessness to Hope.” Rosette Royale is interim editor for Real Change and a Seattle University Journalism Fellow on Family Homelessness, and winner of the national Sigma Delta Chi Award in Feature Writing.

Remember to Come Early! The first 20 people to arrive at the “Coffee Talk” will get free copies of Almost Home, which profiles six teens experiencing homelessness as they try to reach stability.

Learn more about these fantastic writers — and the other 50-plus authors — at the Festival author page.

About the Festival: Billed as one of Seattle University’s signature events, the Search for Meaning Book Festival is a campus-wide affair that explores what it is to be human, while emphasizing literature and speakers that align with Seattle University’s mission of creating a just and humane world. The festival has everything from books and book signings, to presentations and special sessions that explore topics in depth.

We hope to see you there!

To learn more about the festival, or to register, go here.  For more information about the Coffee Talk, please contact Lisa Gustaveson (gustavel@seattleu.edu) or Catherine Hinrichsen (hinrichc@seattleu.edu).

by Categories: Events, Family Homelessness, Journalism, Youth PovertyTags: , , Leave a comment