Unrestricted gift from craigslist founder to support work to educate the public on homelessness
Invisible People has received a $25,000 unrestricted gift from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to support the nonprofit’s efforts to educate the public on homelessness.
This generous gift from Craig Newmark Philanthropies will help Invisible People to expand its journalism engagement strategies to include more quality reporting and reach new audiences.
There is a direct correlation between what the general public perceives about homelessness and how it affects policy change. Many people blame homelessness on the person experiencing it instead of on the increasing shortage of affordable housing and lack of employment and a living wage, among countless other reasons that put a person at risk. This gap in understanding creates a dangerous cycle of misperception that leads to the inability to effectively address the root causes of homelessness.
This generous gift from Craig Newmark Philanthropies will help Invisible People expand its journalism engagement strategies to reach new audiences and conduct even more quality reporting on the issues that affect people who are homeless.
A New Invisible People
We imagine a world where everyone has a place to call home. Each day, Invisible People works to fight homelessness. We give homelessness a face while educating individuals about the systemic issues that contribute to its existence. Through storytelling, education, news, and activism, we are changing the narrative on homelessness.
This year we launched a new Invisible People with a public engagement strategy that includes news on homelessness and solutions to end it. We now have 19 writers covering homelessness and related topics. One of our first posts featured a writer sent into a tent community in Oakland to write a positive story about homeless people. The article went all the way to Oakland’s city council. As a result, the city has assigned a housing coordinator to the tent community with a goal of getting people into housing!
About Craig Newmark Philanthropies
Craig Newmark Philanthropies was created by craigslist founder Craig Newmark to support and connect people and drive broad civic engagement. The organization works to advance people and grassroots organizations that are getting stuff done in areas that include trustworthy journalism, voter protection, gender diversity in technology, and veterans and military families. For more information, please visit: CraigNewmarkPhilanthropies.org.
Photo credit: Stephanie Canciello, Unali Artists