In the style of Mark Horvath’s Invisible People.tv is D-Nice’s True Hip Hop  video series on Vimeo. D-Nice has about a dozen ten-minute interviews with people he feels represent true hip hop, as opposed to some more famous and mainstream artists. Among these interviews is a homeless emcee in Brooklyn who goes by Sawed Off. His interview happens on the street near the river where he hangs out and is as much about his story of homelessness as it is about his vision of the world of hip hop.

The video is visually intriguing and Sawed Off is a fascinating and honest character. I highly recommend it. Check it out below and check out D-Nice’s Vimeo page for more True Hip Hop videos.

True Hip-Hop Stories: Homeless Emcee from D-Nice on Vimeo.

(via Epic Fu)

The economic downturn has spawned a number of films examining poverty in America. This week the trailers for two upcoming films on the same subject were released.

Life is Hot in Cracktown is a film about the many ways that crack-cocaine has harmed whole neighborhoods. The movie tells the story of a prostitute, a rookie cop and a drug dealer among many narratives. Each is based off a short story from director/writer Buddy Giovinazzo’s 1993 book of the same name.

You can also see an interview with director and writer Buddy Giovinazzo where he introduces the film. The video is grainy and the sound is pretty bad, but if you want to know more about the motivation for the film, you can watch him pace around what looks like a kitchen and talk about his movie.

The other movie, Children of Invention, is the story of a family who loses their home to foreclosure and is forced to squat in an unfinished apartment as the parents search desperately for any kind of job. After their mother doesn’t return home from work one night, the children are forced to fend for themselves.

CHILDREN OF INVENTION HD Trailer #1 from Children of Invention on Vimeo.

Are you excited for either of these movies?

Street Papers Thrive as Industry Falters – The New York Times
After recently writing about the success of street papers and papers sold by the homeless in American cities, the New York Times writes about similar success in European street papers even as the larger newspaper industry is facing tough times. The story focuses on The Big Issue based in London with editions around the world and Scarp de’tenis (Tennis Shoe) in Italy.

Homeless Real World – Broadcasting and Cable via End Homelessness
Below is an extended trailer for a potential documentary called Homeless Real World. Online video production ManiaTV (the site is under construction right now) filmed the lives of six homeless people in Denver for Tom Green’s online show, but it never aired. Now they are re-editing the footage for a possible new TV show, according to Broadcast and Cable. From the look of the footage, the show could share some of the standard elements of the MTV Real World, namely excessive drinking, love triangles and fights. Another trailer, with much of the same footage, also has a mock Axe Deodorant commercial that is pretty funny. What do you think of the footage? Would you watch this show?

Homeless Real World (sizzle reel) from Broadcasting & Cable on Vimeo.

U.S. food stamp total is record third month in a row- Reuters
U.S. food stamp numbers went up 1.1% from January to February and was up 17% since last year. There are now 32.55 million people collecting food stamps, which is 1 in 10 Americans.

The Soloist didn’t do so hot - Chicago Sun-Times
According to columnist Bill Zwecker, Jamie Foxx was “extremely upset” about the poor opening weekend for the Soloist. The movie grossed $9.7 million the first weekend, which put it in fourth place, according to the Sun-Times. American Violet grossed $243,162 in its opening weekend and has grossed nearly a half a million total according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

Shannon Moriarty’s post on Change.org’s Homelessness blog has some interesting ideas about ways to address homelessness. It features a video from Paul Polack, the founder of International Development Enterprises. The video is from a book store talk about his new book Out of Poverty: What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail. In the video, Polack talks about the day he spent with a homeless man and that the man told him that finding a place to safely store his belonging was a big problem. Polack’s idea was to take an abandoned warehouse and have the homeless staff a storage unit business. The homeless would be able to store their stuff and it would provide jobs. Check out the whole video below for more of Polack’s ideas.

What do you think? Could this work in Chicago? Share your opinion in the comments.

On Sunday Sarah’s Circle was probably the only social service organization hoping for a bitterly cold day.

They got sunshine and temperatures approaching 40° F, but they were still happy.

Sunday was Sarah’s Circle’s 17th annual Winter Walk, a fund and awareness raising event. Normally, the walk brings a long column of people out into the cold of Chicago winters to get people thinking about what it is like for the homeless to spend a night outside. Organizers still considered this year a success, even with the warm weather.

The walk drew 148 people and raised nearly $6,000, according to Sarah’s Circle board member Mandy Zaransky.

Zaransky started volunteering at Sarah’s eight years ago and rose to be its president and is now a board member. She has seen volunteers raise families and bring their young children to the walk year after year. Among the many children at this years walk, two young boys threw a football back and forth as they walked, sometimes over other participants.

Sarah’s Circle provides a wide range of services for its clients including case management, trauma counseling, art therapy, assistance finding housing, and a place to have a meal and keep warm during the day.

“[Sarah's Circle] helps women become the people they are capable of becoming,” Zaransky said.

Larisa Odak, 51, is a client of Sarah’s Circle and joined in the walk Sunday. Odak, a widow, came to Chicago to study at Northeastern Illinois University, but after her car, along with most of her possessions, was stolen she was forced to quit classes and look for a job. She has now been homeless for a month.

On the weekends, Odak is a live-in caretaker but spends her weeknights in a shelter run by REST. She has a case manager at Sarah’s and said that she has received food and clothes from them. Odak said Sarah’s is necessary for her.

“This is like sun,” she said in a thick Eastern European accent. “We forgot whole unhappy situation.”

After the walk, participants were served Chicago-style hot dogs and asked to write on paper cut outs who they walked for that day. The cut-outs were taped to a wall under the heading “I walk in the name of…”

Some of the responses:

“I walk for Marlene who’s still homeless, but still alive.”  – Eileen

“I walk for my mother who was homeless and still lives one paycheck away from homelessness.”

“I’m walking for all the women who have ever been abused by their mates.”

A short teenager with black hair went to the board and posted a blue foot with one word written on it.

“Me.”

For pictures of these cut-outs and more check out the album on the Chicago Homeless Blog Flickr page.

Check out a video from the event and more from Zaransky about the walk and what Sarah’s Circle does.

Sarah’s Circle Winter Walk 2009 from Andre Francisco on Vimeo.

The next fund raising event for Sarah’s Circle is a blues night at Buddy Guy’s Legends on Fed. 26. with The John Primer Band. For more information contact Caitlin Joycesmith at 773-728-1991 x303.