Gerald Anderson is a Street Sense Media artist and vendor.

He published his memoir, “Still Standing: How an Ex-Con Found Salvation in the Floodwaters of Katrina” in August 2015. Anderson dropped out of school in seventh grade. At age 15, he served time in juvenile detention for stealing. Juvie provided his introduction to drugs. Seven years later, in prison, he learned to read and write. He was 37 and had been on the street for three weeks before hurricane Katrina and the subsequent failure of the levees hit New Orleans.

After helping rescue victims of the flooding and his evacuation to Washington, D.C., Anderson returned to drugs, burglary, and prison. In 2013, his fortune began to change when he learned he could earn money selling Street Sense. Anderson’s customers are family to him. He lives with nine other men in a recovery home in Arlington, Virginia.

Gerald Anderson from Bryan Bello on Vimeo.

Articles by Gerald