The Seattle Times has published a special report on family homelessness through a fellowship with Seattle University, funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As a part of the project, Erika Schultz, Cliff DesPeaux, Genevieve Alvarez and I produced six videos documenting different stories of family homelessness. The project was definitely a team effort and included great reporting by Lornet Turnbull, innovative partnerships with our community news partners, a comprehensive list of resources and beautiful online design led by Denise Clifton. Check out the entire project here.
A child’s perspective on homelessness | Kim Ahern and son Jack, 9, lived at Nickelsville, the only tent city in King County that allows children on a long-term basis, as she searched for housing after moving to Seattle in April 2010. Read more about Kim and Jack.
Out of options, family moves into truck | Cherie Moore and her son, Cody Barnes, 18, lived in their truck for three weeks in May. Although Moore works as a caregiver for the elderly, she says she does not earn enough to pay for housing. Read more about Cherie and Cody.
A mother’s struggles with homelessness | Not long after moving to Seattle with her two teenage sons, June Lloyd was no longer able to work due to chronic pain. They lived in various apartments with other people and in hotel rooms until her savings ran out. Read more about June and her family.
Challenges for homeless dads | Jacob Smith is living in an emergency shelter in Everett with his three children, waiting for an opening in transitional housing. As a single father, Smith faced additional challenges finding resources. Read more about Jacob and his family.
Help for the whole family: First Place School | First Place is a Seattle non profit that provides support to homeless families, including schooling for homeless children, from kindergarten through sixth grade. Read more about Darasavanh Kraven and First Place.
The Self-Sufficiency Standard | Diana Pearce, a senior lecturer and the director of the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington’s School of Social Work, conducts research on the level of income necessary for individuals and families to meet their basic needs. Read more about the Self-Sufficiency Standard.
Thousands of mourners from the area’s East African community attended a memorial that began Friday morning at KeyArena for the woman and four children who perished in Saturday’s apartment fire in Fremont.
As a tsunami headed for Hawaii, Seattle residents started sharing their experiences on Twitter. Lisa Rizza was kind enough to talk with us about her experience.
Mercer Island resident Lisa Rizza has been asked to stay in her hotel room on Maui as tsunami warnings are announced across Hawaii. She talked to the Seattle Times via telephone on Saturday afternoon.
Jim Taber returns to his house on Washington St. after rowing a boat around his Ferndale neighborhood as flood waters continue to rise on Thursday afternoon, January 8, 2009. Taber's garage was flooded, but he was thinking that his house would likely be okay. Flood waters were deeper in other areas, so Taber decided to use the boat to check in on friends and neighbors.
From left, Soraya Hobart, 8, Tim Hobart and Tyler Hobart, 10, work together to drag a Christmas tree along Lakeway Drive in Bellingham on Sunday, December 14, 2008. The Hobart family was planning on going to a tree farm on Sunday to cut down a tree for Christmas but decided that the road conditions were too bad to drive. Instead, their pulled a sled from their house to the Fred Meyer store on Lakeway, bought a tree there, then dragged it back. More snow and winter storms are expected throughout the week.
Matt Read, left, and Kristine Kippley of Bozeman, Mont. use a sled to drag groceries to Read's parents' home via the trail system behind Barkley Village in Bellingham on Monday, December 22, 2008. Along with many other shoppers, the couple decided to hike along the trails rather than drive on the snow-covered streets. More snowfall and winter storm conditions are scheduled throughout the week, with the possibility of Bellingham's first white Christmas since 1990.
