Inspiring Other Homeless Folks

to Join the Organization

Anthony Williams (January 3, 2018)

So, I’m standing outside, and he [Lewis Haggins] starts bring the media to me—like, “You got to talk to him—him! See that guy there? You got to talk to him. “Talk to him? Well, who is he?” He said, “Well he’s with Picture the Homeless! He’s one of the guys that you need to talk to. You need to hear from him.” And I talked about the significance of abandoned property, and about homelessness, and how we need housing, right? And people saw me talking. So, it made several channels that evening. And so, the guys at Bellevue saw me talking on TV, and it wasn’t the first time and they saw me several times after that.

Anthony Williams (January 22, 2018)

I think it was important that they got to see an organization that was run by homeless and formerly homeless folks—to see that they could actually—that they’re actually doing it. It could be done! Yes. And it was being done! They won a lawsuit! That was one of the most important pieces I think I took out of that. They actually got the mayor’s office and the city to pay for people’s belongings being taken illegally and thrown in the trash.

Floyd Parks (October 25, 2019)

People come up to me and say, “Oh, man! I seen you on TV the other day. Man, I like what you said…” I said, “Wow. Are you going to help out or what? Are you going to join in?” He said, “Yes, no doubt. How do I do that?” “Go around the corner to 126th Street—Picture the Homeless.” Yes! I would definitely spread the word. That there’s definitely a change out there, and if you want it, it’s right around the corner.

Ryan Hickey (April 25, 2019)

First I was facilitating and then Sam was like actually, “We really try and have members facilitate.” So I was like, “Okay. So, that makes sense.” So I was trying to get members to facilitate and realizing that that took a lot of prep and work and stuff like that. Like formulating the agenda and the talking points—but not telling people what the talking points are, like asking, “What are the talking points on CLTs? What are the updates?”

Rob Robinson (November 23, 2018)

I learned this when we went to Budapest, Hungary. I started talking to folks who were laying along this canal, homeless and I talked about where I used to stay on the beach, and I said it looked like this. All of a sudden they all sat up and they started talking to me because some of the things I went through related to what they were going through. They said, “This guy went through what I went through.” And you were able to engage them.

Marcus Moore (November 13, 2017)

So, two o'clock came and I got a chance to sit in on this meeting. And the meeting—I'll never forget it. I'll never forget it. This meeting was a bunch of homeless and formerly homeless people. A lot of them had pens, pads… They was taking notes! And these people, when they talk? I was like where did they learn all this from!? I saw white men. I saw Black men. I saw all types of racial groups in that room. Men, women… And right away I took to it, and it just made me want to fall back and take notes internally. By the end of that meeting, I was so high on these people and the stuff that they knew, it just infatuated me to want to come to the meeting on Thursday.

Rogers (January 18, 2018)

The group that I felt was fighting for justice, speaking for and on behalf of the homeless, and doing the things that I saw or heard as God’s commands, that was the Picture the Homeless people. That it’s like, “Okay, if these people are doing the same thing that I’m doing, then maybe I should be doing it with them, as opposed to being a lone wolf someplace.”

Defeating Negative Stereotypes and Changing How Homeless Folks Are “Pictured”

James Tracy (December 3, 2018)

What I noticed as Picture the Homeless interacted with different formations in New York, political formations, is that even with really, really enlightened people who care really deeply about social justice and a better world that the idea of homeless people being in an organization and doing it for themselves and being fierce and strong can still be a little bit surprising for them.

I remember marching alongside the immigrant rights group with you guys and you could tell that they weren’t used to working with homeless people or marching along with homeless people, but once people got over the initial cognitive dissonance about what they thought was possible, often times it was very welcomed. So, like making that space for homeless people to be part of a movement was something that was really evident out there.

Marcus Moore (November 13, 2017)

That was the first time I'm really hearing how these people, in this particular organization, actually talk to politicians! And I'm like, “Man! These guys are talking to politicians. I don't see nobody in here with a suit on. It don't look like to me that these people in here can even afford a suit! But as time went on, I was going to these places and having meetings and people was just accepting me. It wasn't so much what I had on, but what was coming out my mouth, where politicians were like, “Where did these people come from?”