Wendy Cohen
December 10, 2008 | 9:17 pm EST
Giulia:
Our friends over at Change.org have compiled a collection of the Top Ten videos about Homelessness from 2008, and I wanted to share a couple of them with you. Be sure to check out all of them at Change.org and takepart with one of the organizations addressing the challenges of homelessness in the action center for The Soloist.
This is the first part of Good Magazine’s eye-opening account of harsh challenges faced by residents of Skid Row in Los Angeles:
And here is a heart-warming video of a young girl who receives a special gift from Santa while staying at the Safe Haven Homeless Shelter:
Read the rest of this entry »
Project Homeless Connect Day 2008 is a nation wide effort dedicated to providing a one-stop-shop of health and human services for men, women and children.
We went down the event on Skid Row and saw first hand how an individual can make a difference.
Project Homeless Connect from takepart on Vimeo.
takepart with the social action campaign for The Soloist
The Democratic National Convention starts next week and tens of thousands of will traveling to Denver and the presumptive presidential nominee will be there celebrating and championing change .
With Big Tents going up, dozens of parties and panels scheduled and a mile-high acceptance speech, the list of things to do in Denver is certainly overwhelming.
But TakePart is here to help with a list of must see films during your stay in Colorado’s capital:
Trouble the Water
A riveting exploration of poverty in America as seen through the eyes of a couple trapped in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. This film received the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. The New York Times says “Superb… One of the best American documentaries in recent memory.” http://troublethewaterfilm.com/
What do Brigitte Bardot, beach litter, and American rappers on skid row have in common? They’re all on the TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup! The Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!
Katie:
Top 10 Reasons to Go to the Havana Film Festival in New York
* * *
Nicole:
6 Million Pounds of Trash Found On World’s Beaches In One Day
“Take A Bite” Out of Climate Change
Once Upon A Time Mommy Wasn’t This Pretty
* * *
Gina:
The Fresh Air of the Flight of the Red Balloon and Hou Hsiao Hsien
In his latest project, hip hop artist, actor, and filmmaker Pras Michel (The Fugees) goes undercover for 9 days and nights as a homeless person in downtown LA’s notorious Skid Row. I met up with Pras in a hotel lobby in Manhattan to discuss Skid Row, the documentary based on his time on the street living with 90,000 people in a 50 square block area. Pras talked to me about Muhammed Ali, why he likes Obama and doesn’t go for Bill Cosby, how Oprah and Snoop could help the “lost African-American generation” by meeting face to face, and why we’re in a “transitional moment.”
Check out www.skidrowthemovie.com to find where it’s showing near you.
Why did you make this movie?
To make people aware. The majority of Americans just want to be able to work and provide. People on Skid Row … they just want to be able to work, they don’t care what it is. A lot of people think if something’s going on over here and not where they are, then it doesn’t affect them. We have to get away from that mindset.
Read the rest of this entry »
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=28536735 GOOD, Kenneth Cole Productions and MySpaceTV have launched On Skid Row, a five-part documentary series that will shed light on a place that is invisible to most people; a place where 9,000 homeless people, whose average age is 9, live in abject poverty, card board boxes, surrounded by feces, urine, rats, prostitution and crime; where mentally ill are dropped off to fend for themselves. And this isn’t a far away place in the third world. In the words of the writer and narrator Sam Slovick, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist, this is the first “Third World city in America.” This is Los Angeles’ Skid Row, the notorious neighborhood, which, ironically, is right next to LA’s financial district. On Skid Row is produced by Good Magazine, will be screened on MySpaceTV, and is sponsored by Kenneth Cole Productions. So 
and check out Part One of On Skid Row on MySpaceTV, at GOODMagazine or at Kenneth Cole Productions’ Awearness Blog. And to find out other ways you can to help alleviate homelessness, check out HELP USA.