Road warrior - biographical article
My Experience
> I ran substantial emergency shelters in Illinois for 15 years,
> 40+ years advocating for public policy changes, with some success!
> author of 4 books on homelessness,
> 20 yrs. of US backroads travel (49 states, 500k miles) filming and producing videos featuring stories of families and youth sharing about their homelessness for HEAR US Inc.
My Latest/Greatest Work
My latest book, co-authored with Diana Bowman, is The Three Melissas - The Practical Guide to Surviving Family Homelessness. What an honor to work on such a powerful and unique book with these amazing, articulate women!
Dismazed and Driven - My Look at Family Homelessness in America, part memoir/part social narrative, covers highlights from my travels wrapped around the stories of families I met along the way.
This reader-friendly book received rave reviews including the prestigious LA Review of Books.
My latest films -
Meet the 3 Melissas (5:17)
Host SuperPower (:30)
My first/best film -
My Own Four Walls (20 min) features short interviews of kids from across the country sharing their thoughts on their homelessness and what school means to them. Winner of the NAEHCY Outstanding Media Award (2007).
My Blogging
No doubt about it--I use my Medium blog to inform, inspire, and infuriate readers on issues pertaining to poverty, focusing on family/youth homelessness.
Every so often I deviate from the norm, like when I raged about the horrible customer service and ongoing ridiculous mechanical failures that have plagued my travels in my Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, aka "Tillie2."
My Thoughts on Family Homelessness
Craig Dellimore, respected political journalist at WBBM radio in Chicago, interviewed me about family homelessness. This could be a mini course on the topic.
