Shiza Farid, Robyn Russell and Julie Schwartz want everyone to know there is a person behind each unique experience of homelessness and poverty. With the Person First Project, a photo blog created in December, they aim to break down barriers between people experiencing homelessness and those who pass by them every day.
The blog shares the stories of people experiencing homelessness and attempts to provide hope by recognizing that homelessness is a transient state.
“When you come out the other side, people are more aware that it was an experience and not a state of being. When people are able to recover, it feels important to them to make sure you say ‘a person experiencing homelessness’ because they are no longer in that experience,” Russell said.
Michael Stoops, Director of Community Organizing for the National Coalition for the Homeless, recently helped connect the Person First Project with people who want to share their stories.
“It’s a great project in the sense of allowing homeless people to tell their stories in the first person,” Stoops said. “Julie, Shiza, and Robyn talk to people experiencing homelessness in a personal, professional and ethical manner, so they can feel comfortable telling their stories.”
Russell told Street Sense that the people they’ve connected with through Stoops have allowed them to show a “whole” story of how someone fell into homelessness, struggled, and then overcame that obstacle.
Facebook is the main platform for the Person First Project. An Instagram account also gives a snapshot of the full story that can be found on Facebook. Through the use of free social media, the co-founders strategize that the blog will reach the millennial generation and people outside the advocacy community.
“When you stop and talk to people who are experiencing homelessness, you hear that they’re really just like everybody else. They are moms. They are dads. They are daughters. They are sons,” said Russell. “If we could share this with other people, I think it could be really powerful because there are a lot of misconceptions around homelessness.”
The Person First Project collaborates with PoPVille.com, and one of their stories is featured every Friday on the popular D.C. neighborhood blog.
“I knew immediately that this would be a great addition to PoPville because it highlights a perspective not often seen on the site,” Dan Silverman, creator of PoPville.com, said. “I hope folks may realize that we all have a story to tell and we are all residents sharing the same city. It’s easy to barrel through a day without realizing there are other stories besides our own out there.”
Schwartz said the weekly feature in PoPville has already sparked conversations. Through the comments section, she saw readers’ suggestions to hear the story of a person experiencing homelessness who greets passersby every day outside of the National Postal Museum.
Schwartz interviewed him for the Person First Project. “Maybe now people will know his name and two things about him. Who knows what will happen from there?” she said.
The three co-founders of Person First Project have full-time jobs in different fields, yet all see ties between this side-project and their careers.
Farid and Russell work at the United Nations Foundation, specializing in universal access for sexual and reproductive health rights for women. Schwartz works to implement public health contracts overseas with ABT Associates.
“This has inspired me to understand the power of storytelling as an advocacy tool,” Russell said, adding that “…sharing individual stories can open other people’s eyes … in a way that a fact sheet full of stats, facts and figures can’t.”
The co-founders are aware of many organizations in Washington that provide services for people experiencing homelessness. They believe some of the value of the Person First Project is that it contributes to changing perceptions.
“It’s not that people don’t care. I think they do care and I think they don’t know what to do. That’s how we felt,” Russell said regarding the public who pass by people experiencing homelessness every day. “We hope our project can open their eyes and help them feel like maybe they can stop and talk to somebody.”
