WeAreVisible.com
Current text circa: 2015 -- This entry has been changed since it's original writing which covered the timespan of 2010 through 2013.
We Are Visible has morphed, changing as we all do. It is now a community facilitated on the Ning platform.
It was a tremendous pleasure and boon to have volunteered with them for 3 years. Without WeAreVisible's parent organization-- InvisiblePeople.tv --I would have been stranded on the streets.
I would be remiss to forget their assistance.
During 2010 through 2013 WeAreVisible.com’s mission was to give people dealing with poverty and homelessness tools they need to get online and have a voice.
The site taught my peers how to sign up for email, open a Twitter account, join Facebook, create a blog and, in general, take advantage of the benefits of online social media. It also took on the great challenge of breaking ground for virtual case management.
One of it's purposes and goals was to build a peer-community for those of us who have experienced, or who are experiencing homelessness.
Another of it's purposes and goals was to trail-blaze the territory of guiding *homeless customer service providers* into the efficacious use of social media, the internet, and all its accoutrements. A truly Herculean task at the time.
I volunteered as a Presenter and Trainer of a homeless digital connection component of the project in it's first conception iteration. Those original webpages and the project I was privileged to be a part of are long gone, yet their effect remains.
The project included teaching, illustrating, and offering encouragement and support to those experiencing homelessness as they digitally connected locally and globally via an e-mail account; a Twitter account, and/or a Facebook page.
It was instrumental in bringing to people's awareness the fact that those experiencing homelessness have the right to access digital information about jobs, social services events and shelters; as well as the need to be able to access that information in a timely manner.
The tools introduced also allowed users to communicate with one another, giving us a sense of community.
The virtual community built up around the project was to give a lifeline for those in the throes of surviving homelessness.
Now, in April of 2015, it has been presented by the government that internet access is vital and crucial for all. Looking back on my time with WeAreVisible.com during it's inception, I feel proud to have been both assisted-by and affliated-with the project.
