Our sincere thanks to everyone who everyone who helped to make it happen. With your help, we will continue to travel the Do1Thing Young Faces of Homelessness photographic exhibit.

Debra has been an agent for some of the top names in the business, a consultant for Black Book and did a stint as CEO of APA National. Besides lecturing, seminars and moderating panels, she now primarily works with photographers one-on-one and guides a photographer’s career as an artist and a business.

Debra presents seminars annually at PhotoPlus Expo and is a frequent guest speaker at Art Center College of Design. She recently curated an exhibit of the Best of The International Photography Awards 2005, which has traveled to nine countries. Debra is curator of the PLUS (Picture Licensing Universal System) Coalition Web site and is also the PLUS Industry Committee Coordinator. Debra has a website at the Debra Weiss Blogspot.

Debra has been an agent for some of the top names in the business, a consultant for Black Book and did a stint as CEO of APA (Advertising Photographers of America) National. Besides lecturing, seminars and moderating panels, she now primarily works with photographers one-on-one, helping to guide a photographer’s career as an artist and a business by creating an artistic marketable identity that will improve their opportunities for success

We’ve all heard the phrase “putting a face on homelessness” countless times. The idea is simple: provide some flesh and blood to let the rest of us grasp the larger problems of poverty.

It would be so easy to dismiss it as another tired cliche if it weren’t powerfully truthful. Consider “Lulu’s Story,” a multimedia piece on an 18-year-old Portland girl who has been homeless since losing her mother at the age of 12.

“Lulu’s Story” is part of a showcase of work on teenage homelessness at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland. Since August, Salt has had an exhibit on Do1Thing.org, a national project that paired photographers with homeless youths around the country earlier this year.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because local photographers and Salt students took part in the project in February.

Photographer Alexandra Daley-Clark oversaw the project locally, and co-produced “Lulu’s Story” with Suzi Piker (an online producer for PressHerald.com and a Salt alumnus). It premiered Thursday in a special event at Salt.

The event, called “Do1Thing.org: An evening with the creators,” showcased photography from the Do1Thing project and a talk by Najlah Feanny Hicks, co-founder of Do1Thing.org, as well as Daley-Clark, Piker and Lurlene “Lulu” Dame, the subject of the piece.

For two weeks, Daley-Clark got to know Dame and followed her around, capturing her daily life around Portland. She got connected to Dame through the Preble Street Teen Center in Portland, which serves kids ages 14-20.

Dame, at 18, has lost most of her family. She found herself homeless around the same time most teenagers were entering high school. Her father, she says in the multimedia piece, is an alcoholic. The only choice left was to get out.

“Seeing a lot of people die, the last thing I want is to be in contact with someone who is killing themself (sic) slowly,” she says.

READ the entire article here:

“Lulu’s Story”

Learn more about the photographer here:

Alex Daley-Clark

Learn more about the sound designer here:

Suzi

We’ve all heard the phrase “putting a face on homelessness” countless times. The idea is a simple one: show some flesh and blood to allow the rest of us to grasp the larger problems of poverty.

It’d be so easy to dismiss as another tired cliche if it weren’t powerfully truthful. Consider “Lulu’s Story,” a multimedia piece on an 18-year-old Portland girl who has been homeless since losing her mother at the age of 12.

“Lulu’s Story” is part of a showcase of work on teen homelessness at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies on Thursday starting at 7 p.m. Since August, Salt has featured an exhibit on Do1Thing.org, a national project that paired photographers with homeless youth around the country earlier this year.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because a number of local photographers and Salt students took part in the project in February.

Photographer Alexandra Daley-Clark oversaw the project locally, and co-produced “Lulu’s Story” with Suzi Piker (a Salt alum, and  online producer for PressHerald.com) for Thursday’s event.

The event, called “Do1Thing.org: An evening with the creators,” will showcase the photography from the Do1Thing project and a talk from Najlah Feanny Hicks, co-founder of Do1Thing.

Read the entire ARTICLE IN THE PORTLAND PRESS HERALD here.

View a preview of Lulu\’s Story here.

We’d love for everyone in the are to join us for the event.

Meet Founder Najlah Feanny Hicks and Do1Thing Director of Photography Alexandra Daley-Clark along with homeless teen Lulu at the gallery event.

UPCOMING EVENT:
Do1Thing.org: An evening with the co-founder [ + Fundraiser ]
September 17, 2009 // 7-8:30
@ Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
561 Congress Street // Portland, Maine
Free + Open to the public

Please bring an item donate from the list below. Monetary donations also welcome. In celebration of the current exhibit at Salt, Do1Thing.org: Young Faces of Homelessness, please join us for an evening with one of the creators of the project. Weʼre pleased to welcome Do1Thing.org Founder, former Newsweek photographer Najlah Feanny Hicks to speak about Do1Thing.org, which sheds light on young adult homelessness in Maine and around the country.

Several powerful and uplifting multimedia pieces will also be screened. In addition, we are excited to premiere Lulu’s Story, a multimedia piece produced by Mainers:
photographer Alexandra Daley-Clark, Director of Photography for Do1Thing.org, and audio and multimedia producer Suzi Piker, an alum of the Salt radio program. Their intimate portrait tells the story of a young woman who is currently experiencing homelessness in Portland, Maine.

Here’s an easy way to do a lot of GOOD! We do everything we can to let everyone know that there are tens of thousand of foster kids hoping to get adopted at The Heart Gallery of New Jersey, and now we have a great chance to raise $10,000 to support the cause.

All you need to do is to go to: NAU and vote for our cause. It’s Nau’s Grant for Change and every vote counts!

Take a minute and help us out by voting for The Heart Gallery.

Director of Photographer Alex Daley-Clark curates the moving show highlighting, stunning photographs! http://salt.edu/events/communityevents.php

With you’re help, we’ve been able to fund the first gallery showcasing more than 40 images of homeless youth from across the country. Thanks to you! Please keep supporting Do1Thing so we can continue to travel the gallery and spread the word that TODAY, there are more homeless than at any other time in American history. 1.3 million of them are youth.

What if we all did 1 thing to help?

When Esquire Magazine ran a portfolio of Martin’s images including his cover photograph of George Clooney in May’s issue, Martin also included images of homeless youth. Next to his images of Clooney, Brad Pitt, President Obama, Justin Timberlake, John McEnroe, Denzel Washington, Arnold Schwarznegger, Joe Namath, Alex Rodriguez and so many other famous names were Martin’s images of homeless youths Edrice Cooper, Salif Diarrassouba and Eric Crespin.

Martin Schoeller is a New York based photographer whose style is distinguished by similar treatment of all subjects whether they are celebrities or unknown. His most recognizable work are his portraits, shot with similar lighting, backdrop, and tone. His work appears in The New Yorker, Outside Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, and Vogue.

Recipients of 2009 Russ Berrie Award for Making a Difference – Honored at Ramapo College Ceremony

The Russell Berrie Foundation carries on the values and passions of the late Russell Berrie, through promoting the continuity of the Jewish people, fostering religious understanding and pluralism, supporting advances in diabetes and humanistic medical care, celebrating unsung heroes and elevating the profession of sales.

Last year the foundation honored Do1Thing founder Najlah Feanny Hicks for her work in co-founding the Heart Gallery of New Jersey, a traveling portrait gallery that publicizes the plight of adoption-eligible children mired in the foster care system. To date, 191 New Jersey foster children have been adopted because of the Heart Gallery’s efforts.

She used most of her award to launch an organization called Do1Thing. It’s a nationwide effort of photographers, writers and Web designers to portray the face of homeless teenagers. The Web-based organization links to a number of non-profit partners that provide services to homeless teens. In recalling last year’s ceremony, Hicks said, “The beauty of this is that it allowed me to do one more thing. There is always something each of you can give.”

Read about the 2009 recipient Patient care technician Angelica Mercado. Mercado assisteda driver whose gas tanker overturned and exploded. Driver by as the accident occured, she pulled over at the scene of the accident, pulled the driver to safety and transported the driver to the hospital. Healthcare professionals at The University Hospital in Newark, where the driver was taken, believe Mercado’s quick actions likely saved the man’s life.