We have a new website! Thanks for being patient as we launch what is to become the social network part of this film so that our fans can take action in their communities.
Interesting Article from NPR Today on Ending Homelessness
More than 30 years ago, a nonprofit was launched in New York City to try to find permanent housing for chronically homeless people in Times Square. Now it has a national campaign that some people think could be an important first step toward ending homelessness in America.
Standing outside an elegant 15-story brick building in midtown Manhattan, Rosanne Haggerty, who runs the nonprofit Common Ground, recalls how it all began — how a former hotel became a model for housing the homeless.
“In the early ’80s, I lived right next-door to the Times Square Hotel,” she says. “It was back in the day when Times Square was Times Square, as we say — kind of a crazy neighborhood to say the least.”
The area was known mostly for peep shows and prostitutes. It was long before anyone dreamed that Times Square would become a family destination.
Haggerty worked with the homeless at the time, and was upset to find out that the hotel was about to shut down.
“It was the largest single-room occupancy hotel in New York City,” she says. “The building was practically on the verge of being condemned. It had 1,700 serious building code violations.”
Trash, mildew and crack vials were everywhere. But Haggerty, then 29, saw the potential. She says she thought it made a lot of sense to fix the building up so all of the homeless people outside would have somewhere to live. And she thought it would be good to provide services, like health care and job training, so people would be more likely to stay off the streets.
READ MORE http://www.npr.org/2011/03/07/134002013/ending-homelessness-a-model-that-just-might-work?ft=1&f=1001&sc=tw&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
SAVING JULIAN UPDATE: WHAT WE ARE DOING
After wrapping, I met with Sylvia’s Place (http://www.homelessyouthservices.org/sylviasplace.html) a homeless youth shelter to talk to them about how we can concretely make a difference with our new film. To start out, we have decided that we will donate lockers, cots and new kitchen utensils from our proceeds. We are also going to have a major fundraising effort to ensure that we can meet these bold goals. We chose Sylvia’s Place because unlike many other organizations who only take fully functioning youth, Sylvia’s welcomes all and has an incredible staff of nurses, psychologists and social workers who make a difference in the lives of all young people.
We are two weeks away from a rough cut of our film. This weekend we got through a challenging shoot, Day one started with our principal missing the entire day and Day Two ended with our sound mixer getting an asthma attack and being taken to the emergency room. We hope this means that this movie is going to make a major impact. Through the freezing cold, we made it through as 90% of our shoot was outside.
Keep posted and tell a friend.
