This blog and community is about the “doers.”
Yes, we share a lot of food for thought as you build your business, but the goal is to stimulate action.
Today’s post highlights a man of action who is also a member of our community– Mark Horvath, founder of Invisible People, a nonprofit that uses social media to help change the story of homelessness.
In 2010 a film production company followed Mark around to produce a documentary on his work and homelessness.
The good news, well great news actually, is that the movie, called “@home,” will be airing on PBS in 35 States starting 3/25. The not-so-great news is that there is zero promotion or campaign to accompany the film.
When Mark agreed to participate in the film it was with the hope that there would be an awareness campaign to accompany the movie. As he put it, “the last thing I wanted was a film that ended the conversion after the movie was over kind of like ‘homelessness sucks, but lets go get ice cream!'”
For whatever reason, neither a campaign or promotion of any significance has happened.
The current plan is to try to remedy the lack of promotion with some grass roots effort, and Mark has been inspired by a successful project from 2009 (called Twestival). For that project, Amanda Rose started a grassroots movement that was truly amazing. Her community crowdsourced tweetups (do those even exist anymore?) in 202 cities around the world and raised huge money for charity:water.
Some of the events were pretty significant, while some were just a few people gathering at a bar or restaurant. It showed how social media can be used to organically organize people to gather for a purpose and have impact.
This is where Mark needs our help.
At the end of this post we are listing cities, stations and times. If you live in one of those communities and are a make-things-happen type person, it would be awesome if you (or a team of you) would start promoting the PBS airing and make some kind of an event happen.
If you want to make it a fundraiser, PLEASE PICK A LOCAL HOMELESS SERVICE to benefit. It’s important to fight homelessness at a local level. Plus, supporting a local homeless service would just be a better fit for any local event.
The point of this movie is just that – create a conversation on people experiencing homelessness.
Mark has made available a couple of resources that can support your efforts to spread the word. One is a study guide for the film, created by Seattle University.
He also has a website called InvisiblePeople.tv where he highlights the stories of specific homeless people in our communities.
Anything you can do to help spread the word about this important film, and Mark’s vital work, would be much appreciated.
These are the scheduled showings of the film on PBS stations around the United States:
EASTERN STANDARD TIME
Wednesday, March 25 at 7:00 PM
Thursday, March 26 at 12:00 AM, 8:00 AM and 2:00 PM
Saturday, March 28 at 1:00 PM ET
WEDU – Tampa, FL NHPTV – Durham, NH
WPBT – North Miami, FL WNET – New York, NY
WUCF – Orlando, FL WNED – Buffalo, NY
WXEL – West Palm Beach, FL WMHT – Troy, NY
WJCT – Jacksonville, FL WXXI – Rochester, NY
WSRE – Pensacola, FL WCNY – Syracuse, NY
WGCU – Fort Myers, FL WCFE – Plattsburgh, NY
WUFT – Gainesville, FL WSKG – Vestal, NY
GEOR – Atlanta, GA WPBS – Watertown, NY
ALAB – Birmingham, AL WVIZ – Cleveland, OH
WGBH – Boston, MA WOUB – Athens, OH
WGBY – Springfield, MA WCTE – Cookeville, TN
MAIN – Bangor, ME WKNO – Cordova, TN
WTVS – Wixom, MI WETP – Knoxville, TN
WKAR – East Lansing, MI WLJT – Martin, TN
WHYY – Philadelphia, PA WHRO – Norfolk, VA
WQED – Pittsburgh, PA WBRA – Roanoke, VA
WPSU – University Park, PA VERM – Colchester, VT
WQLN – Erie, PA
CENTRAL STANDARD TIME
Wednesday, March 25 at 6:00 PM and 11:00 PM
Thursday, March 26 at 7:00 AM and 1:00 PM
Saturday, March 28 at 12:00 PM
ARKA – Conway, AR KENT – Lexington, KY
IOWA – Johnston, IA WYES – New Orleans, LA
WTTW – Chicago, IL KWCM – Appleton, MN
WSIU – Carbondale, IL KETC – St. Louis, MO
WILL – Urbana, IL NDAK – Fargo, ND
WMEC – Chatham, IL NEBR – Lincoln, NE
WTVP – Peoria, IL KERA – Dallas, TX
WTIU – Bloomington, IN KLRN – San Antonio, TX
WVUT – Vincennes, IN WMVS – Milwaukee, WI
MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME
Wednesday, March 25 at 5:00 PM ant 10:00 PM
Thursday, March 26 at 6:00 AM and 12:00 PM
Saturday, March 28 at 11:00 AM
IDAH – Boise, ID SDAK – Vermillion, SD
MONT – Bozeman, MT KUED – Salt Lake City, UT
PACIFIC STANDARD TIME
Wednesday, March 25 at 4:00 PM and 9:00 PM
Thursday, March 26 at 5:00 AM and 11:00 AM
Saturday, March 28 at 10:00 AM
KUAC – Fairbanks, AK KIXE – Redding, CA
KAET – Phoenix, AZ KEET – Eureka, CA
KUAT – Tucson, AZ KNME – Albuquerque, NM
KOCE – Santa Ana, CA KSYS – Medford, OR
KQED – San Francisco, CA KSPS – Spokane, WA
KVIE – Sacramento, CA
If you have questions, or would like to help, you can contact Mark Horvath directly: info [at] invisiblepeople [dot] tv.
