Education Made Easy: 5 Unique Ways To Learn & Unlearn
Understanding any marginalized group can be difficult. The process of unlearning stigma and stereotypes is difficult in the age of misinformation and disinformation we live in. Luckily, we are also in the age of connection. The sharing of stories and perspectives across race, age, gender, socioeconomic status, etc. has never been easier!
We gathered a list of unique ways to educate yourself on issues surrounding homelessness…
We’re sharing creators, directors, authors, and artists who are doing it right! Everything from social media to traditional media and more. Scroll to read.
Five Unique Ways To Learn & Unlearn…
1. Tiktok
TikTok is a short form video content app with over 1 billion users. The popular social media platform allows people to create, watch, and share 15 second - 3 minute videos. It’s advanced algorithm prioritizes engagement, user interaction, video information, and device setting to cater content shown to each user.
Day In The Life: Shelter Living & Substance Recovery
Meet Courtney, a recovering addict turned harm reduction worker at St. Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction in Bronx, New York. Courtney documents everything from her own addiction recovery (including her methadone treatment) to her experience living in shelter and recent move into her own apartment!
With an emphasis on Narcan and naloxone education, Courtney has garnered an online following of over 300,000 people; amassing over 100M views, and 11.1 million likes on her TikTok account alone. Courtney’s first-hand experiences of homelessness and addiction, coupled with her knowledge of harm reduction and professional experience working with unhoused people, place a unique lens on the content she creates.
Explore some of her other videos…
Day In The Life: Social Worker
Ever wonder what it’s like to work in this field? First Step Communities is an agency creating interim housing and providing emergency shelter for the unhoused in Sacramento, California. Their TikTok account shares what it’s like to serve the homeless population in a transitional housing setting.
Explore some of their other videos…
Q&A With Emergency Services
Safe Communities is a TikTok account out of Brooks, Alberta that answers all the questions you have about emergency services! Their goal is to create safe and secure community by educating the public through quick videos about topics such as…
Stories of Homelessness
Invisible People is a non-profit organization working for homeless people in the United States. The organization educates the public about homelessness through storytelling, educational resources, and advocacy. With over 90,000 followers and 1.1M likes, their TikTok account shares diverse stories of homelessness and addiction.
Over on their YouTube channel they have 1.12M subscribers and over a thousand videos, including a mini docuseries that goes beyond the common rhetoric, statistics, political debates, and limitations of social services to examine poverty in America.
Hear a few of the stories they share…
2. YouTube
YouTube is a free video sharing website that makes it easier to watch videos online. The website lets people upload, view, and share long form videos. Users can subscribe to the channels they enjoy most and be notified when uploads happen.
Interview With A Youth Experiencing Homelessness In Toronto
Many news networks have YouTube channels where they share news clips; sometimes releasing longer form videos on related topics. CBC recently released a series called “Generation Homeless.” In the first episode they follow Amy, a youth experiencing homelessness in Toronto, as she navigates finding shelter, food, and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hostile Architecture & It’s Alternatives
You may have heard of TEDx Talks. They’re an international community that organizes events and speaking engagements, celebrating change-makers and locally-driven ideas; elevating them to a global stage.
This in video, speaker Rory Thomas shares his expertise in architecture and discusses the intentional warm caused by hostile design.
Homeless Man Does TEDx Talk
As a homeless Indianapolis native, Maurice Young speaks about his dedication to other’s experiencing homelessness and the need for change regarding the mistreatment of those who call the streets home. Unhoused since 2011, he believes transforming public perception will directly impact government legislation and local policies to improve the conditions of local communities.
3. Books
Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction
Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction is a memoir by David Sheff that describes how his family dealt with his son Nic's methamphetamine addiction. This #1 New York Times Best-Selling story of a son’s addiction and a father's love has new been made into a movie, released in 2018 starring Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet.
Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines
Hear Nic’s side of the story in this New York Times bestselling memoir. Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines follows Nic Sheff, a young man addicted to methamphetamine. Here he tells the raw, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful tale of the road from relapse to recovery. Both this book and he’s fathers memoir inspired the Amazon Original Movies, Beautiful Boy.
No House to Call My Home: Love, Family & Other Transgressions
Author Ryan Berg immerses readers in the gritty, dangerous, and shockingly underreported world of homeless LGBTQ+ teens in New York. As a caseworker in a group home for disowned LGBTQ+ teenagers, Berg witnessed the struggles, fears, and ambitions of these disconnected youth as they resisted the pull of the street, tottering between destruction and survival.
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay & A Mother's Will To Survive
Maid is the true story of Stephanie Land and her arduous and often back-breaking journey to claw herself out of poverty. Later adapted into a Netflix Original Series, Maid follows a single mother who turns to housecleaning to make ends meet as she escapes an abusive relationship and overcomes homelessness in the United States.
4. Movies & Shows
5. Art
Photography Exhibit
In the late 2000's, over the course of eighteen months, disposable cameras were handed out to citizens of Ontario who considered themselves either homeless or at-risk. Twenty-five cameras were returned — films full, all telling stories of people experiencing homelessness. Some included narratives or photo descriptors, some agreed to be interviewed, and others provided only the camera, letting the photos speak for themselves. Photos of sleeping conditions, stigma/discrimination, and the harsh realities so many faced everyday.
This is just one example of utilizing art to share the stories and perspective of the unhoused. The project was inspired by its first photographer, Gafri. During a conversation about why people seem to believe that homelessness doesn’t exist in the York Region of Ontario, he said “give me a camera, I’ll show them.” 1
Later, a small group of photographers came together to create "Hidden From Sight: Living Homeless ” a visual exhibit displaying the photos, honouring the voices of those with lived experience on the streets right here in Canada, to document their voices in efforts for social change. These are just a few of those photos. The accompanying text serving as a reflection of conversations had and interviews done…
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“Hidden in...Plain Sight: Living Homeless in York Region.” Hidden in...Plain Sight: Living Homeless in York Region | The Homeless Hub, www.homelesshub.ca/resource/hidden-inplain-sight-living-homeless-york-region. Accessed 30 Oct. 2023.