Faces of Homelessness Panel
What is a Faces Panel?
A Faces Panel provides an opportunity for dialogue between homeless or formerly homeless persons with those who want to learn more about homelessness. The Panel members speak about their experiences and answer questions from the audience.
Why do a Faces Panel?
The Faces Panel makes a very powerful impact on those who attend. People are provided with a personal connection to the homeless statistics they may hear. Myths can be dispelled and stereotypes can be broken down as the audience gets a chance to interact with homeless people. Audience members can listen to the perspectives and stories of those who are homeless and hear their ideas for solutions to the problems.
The National Coalition for the Homeless has two videos/DVDs available.
1. The highly regarded "Faces of Homelessness" video features images of America’s homeless people. This 13-minute video (VHS or DVD) features images taken by award-winning photographers from around the country accompanied with powerful homeless-themed music that enables the viewer to get a sense of who is homeless in America. Cost: $20 (includes S&H).
2. “Faces of Homelessness II” DVD was done by a trio of student filmmakers who interviewed a number of homeless people in the nation's capital. (DVD only). Cost: $20 (includes S & H).
Tips for Recruiting Homeless People as Speakers:
1) If you personally know homeless people who would like to speak, ask them directly.
2) Send letters to your local shelters asking them if someone from their shelter would like to speak. It’s good to get a few “success stories” of people who are no longer homeless, as well as stories of people who are currently homeless. If you contact the shelter, you need to make follow-up calls to make sure the speakers will come. Sometimes shelters are not willing to let their clients speak. Shelters that house women fleeing domestic abuse, families, or youth, often want their clients to concentrate on their own problems and are sometimes overly protective. If possible, organize a diverse group of speakers (age, race, sex, homeless/formerly homeless).
3) Make sure to arrange transportation for your speakers; this can include giving them a bus/cab fare or simply picking them up. Sometimes the shelter will assign a staff member/volunteer to transport the client to and from the event.
4) Make sure to contact the shelter and inform them that a resident will be speaking on your campus, and ensure that the speaker(s) will not lose their beds for the night if they return late.
5) Be sure to compensate the speakers with an honorarium for taking the time to speak--$35-$50 is the suggested amount for a local speaker, but feel free to give more.
6) Invite the homeless speakers to eat in your school cafeteria before the speaking event.
Other:
1) Make sure to get the community and campus media to cover the event. Consider videotaping the panel.
2) To get the speakers started, meet with them beforehand and ask that they address the following in their talk: if they are formerly homeless — what their life was like before homelessness, what their life was like while they were homeless, what brought them out of homelessness, and how their life is currently. If the speakers are currently homeless, have them share what their life was like before homelessness, what it is like to be homeless, and what are their hopes and dreams are for the future. Ideally, each speaker should talk for 10-15 minutes.
3) Take questions from the floor. Let the audience know that no question is too stupid or embarrassing. You should mention that some speakers will get a little emotional or riled up if posed with certain questions. Expect tears when people are asked about their contact/relationships with family. Francine, a speaker for the National Coalition for the Homeless, invited one student to come up and give her a hug after the student said with tears running down her face that she was sorry that her mother gave her the wrong perception of homeless people. Another speaker, John, wrote a song about being homeless and not a dry eye is in the room after they hear it.
4) Obtain a moderator to introduce the speakers. This moderator should be someone that knows about homelessness on a local or national level. It is sometimes hard for homeless people to relate to people with homes, and vice versa. Therefore, it is sometimes necessary for a moderator to act as a bridge between the two. The moderator can also interject statistics and other important information in between the stories of the speakers. Generally the moderator is a local advocate who is working with a local homeless organization.
Contact:
Michael O’Neill
Director, Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau
National Coalition for the Homeless
2201 P St., NW
Washington, DC 20037-1033
Phone: (202) 462-4822 x20
Fax: (202) 462-4823
Email: moneill@nationalhomeless.org
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