Getting the Kids' Faces (and stories) Out There

I went to the opening of the current Hear Gallery exhibit at the Liberty Science Center last Friday. The opening consisted of 100 photographs of children, mostly teenagers, in foster care in New Jersey. The goal of the exhibition is to find families for the children. The opening was hugely impressive in the science center with a large crowd in attendance. I have been to several Heart Gallery events in the past, including a photo shoot and an editing session at the Time-Life building. Najlah Hicks, co-founder of The Heart Gallery, is a friend from Parsons. I am always hugely impressed with the work she does and feel privileged to witness it. I brought Jim Bolas, director of education for The Empire State Coalition on Youth and Family Services, to the opening. The agency is responsible for addressing youth homelessness in New York City and just published preliminary findings from a survey they conducted. The kids that Najlah’s non profit helps to get adopted are the same kids that Jim’s organization would likely have to help if they didn’t find a family. The prospects for kids who age out of foster care are terribly grim. I brought Jim because he and I have been talking over the past year about media strategies for his organization. Right now their media outreach is limited. The Heart Galley is on the other end of the extreme, with top photographers and photo editors volunteering their time and New Jersey’s biggest newspaper, The Star Ledger, consistently covering the gallery’s activities. Last week’s issue of People Magazine has a five page story on the gallery.

The challenges facing The Empire State Coalition are radically different than those facing The Heart Gallery. As Jim put it, they are not a bleeding heart organization. Additionally, many homeless youth service providers see the media as predatory and seek to protect the youth they help from reporters and photographers. They fear that exposure in public as homeless will damage their prospects later in life. The difficulty with this stance is that it offers no empowering alternative strategy for presenting the personal and emotional sides of homelessness. Jim is very aware of this, and we have been chatting about the implications and options.