Mark Horvath (Canadian Football)

Invisible People is an American 501(c)(3) non-profit organization working for homeless people in the United States. The organization educates the public about homelessness through storytelling, educational resources, and advocacy.

The organization was founded in November 2008 by activist and former television executive, Mark Horvath. Interviews are posted on its website and other social media outlets. The organization has interviewed homeless people in over 100 cities across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

History

Invisible People was founded by Mark Horvath. In the early 1990s, California resident Horvath worked as a television distribution executive, but addiction to drugs and alcohol resulted in him becoming homeless in 1995. After eight years, he sought rehabilitation with the help of the Los Angeles Dream Center and, in 2005, relocated to St. Louis, Missouri.

During the Great Recession, Horvath lost his job and home, and returned to Los Angeles. Facing homelessness again, he recorded interviews with homeless people on a Flipcam and posted them on YouTube and Twitter. In November 2008, Invisible People was launched. It is registered in the United States as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Production

Horvath describes the organization as "a conversation about solutions to end homelessness" that "gives homeless people a chance to tell their own story." Interviews on the subjects' sufferings are recorded using a hand-held videocamera, microphone, laptop, and iPhone, and posted unedited on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Horvath initially interviewed subjects in California, then expanded across the United States and beyond, including Canada Peru, and the United Kingdom. Hovarth travels worldwide to raise awareness about homelessness. Private companies provide goods to be donated to the homeless during Invisible People's road tours, as well as providing transportation and lodging for Horvath.

In April 2009, Invisible People streamed live interviews with homeless people in a tent city in Sacramento, California, on Twitter. After the interviews were posted, a Seattle-based company sponsored the organizations' first cross-country tour, in which Horvath traveled to over 20 cities and interviewed over 100 homeless people. The organization has also partnered with Hanes in the ten-year-old Hanes National Sock Drive raising awareness about the homeless Americans.

By 2010, the organization had released interviews with over 200 homeless people. In 2011, a privately owned, non governmental, Not For Profit Homeless Organization based in Calgary commissioned Invisible People to tour 24 cities in Canada, starting on July 4 in Victoria and ending on September 12 in St. John's, including stops in Toronto and Calgary. The organization’s website received 50,000 hits per month in 2011.

Reception

According to NBC News, Horvath's interviews give the homeless a face and a voice. The interviews conducted by the non-profit have resulted in assistance being provided to the interviewed subjects. On August 22, 2010, YouTube allowed Horvath and Invisible People to curate YouTube's homepage for a day. In 2012, ''LA Weekly'' awarded Invisible People and its founder, Mark Horvath, a "Best Online Do-Gooder" award.

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the viewers raised money to buy shoes for 50 schoolchildren. In Arkansas, a farmer donated 40 acres to create a farm that feeds 150 homeless people a week. An interview with a 58-year-old homeless man dying of cancer in Calgary led to his brother finding him after 33 years of estrangement; the two were able to spend 53 days together before the man succumbed to cancer. Housing programs have also been started in Arkansas and Calgary following the organization's tours in those cities.

A documentary about Invisible People entitled "@home" won the 2014 Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival Best Documentary Award and aired on PBS in 2015.

See also

* Homelessness
* Homelessness in the United States
* Homelessness in Canada

References

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{{Cite news, title = YouTube video helps homeless man find suite, work = CBC News, access-date = April 20, 2019, date = April 26, 2011, url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/youtube-video-helps-homeless-man-find-suite-1.1055919, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190423164231/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/youtube-video-helps-homeless-man-find-suite-1.1055919, archive-date = April 23, 2019, url-status = live

{{Cite news, last = Elash, first = Anita, title = Q&A: Mark Horvath on homelessness, work = The Globe and Mail, access-date = April 21, 2019, date = August 19, 2011, url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/qa-mark-horvath-on-homelessness/article591174/, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190423164221/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/qa-mark-horvath-on-homelessness/article591174/, archive-date = April 23, 2019, url-status = live

{{Cite news, last = Galliot, first = Lorena, title = Giving homeless people a voice on the Web, work = France 24, access-date = April 21, 2019, url = https://observers.france24.com/en/20101021-giving-homeless-people-voice-web-invisible-people-blog-twitter-facebook-mark-horvath-usa, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190423164214/https://observers.france24.com/en/20101021-giving-homeless-people-voice-web-invisible-people-blog-twitter-facebook-mark-horvath-usa, archive-date = April 23, 2019, url-status = live

{{Cite podcast, number = August 20, 2014, last = Gorgone, first = Kerry O'Shea, title = Storytelling and Nonprofit Marketing: Invisible People's Mark Horvath Talks to Marketing Smarts, series = MarketingProfs, accessdate = April 21, 2019, url = http://www.marketingprofs.com/podcasts/2014/25836/nonprofit-storytelling-mark-horvath-marketing-smarts, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190423164307/https://www.marketingprofs.com/podcasts/2014/25836/nonprofit-storytelling-mark-horvath-marketing-smarts, archivedate = April 23, 2019, url-status = live

{{Cite web, title=Official website, work=InvisiblePeople.tv, url=https://www.invisiblepeople.tv/, access-date=April 23, 2019, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420043956/https://invisiblepeople.tv/, archive-date=April 20, 2019, url-status=live

{{Cite news, last = Monsebraaten, first = Laurie, title = American activist documents life on Toronto streets {{! The Star, work = The Toronto Star, access-date = April 21, 2019, date = August 20, 2011, url = https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/08/20/american_activist_documents_life_on_toronto_streets.html, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190423164224/https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/08/20/american_activist_documents_life_on_toronto_streets.html, archive-date = April 23, 2019, url-status = live

{{Cite web, title = Opening Americans' Eyes to Homelessness, Invisible People Documentary "@home" to Air on 70 PBS Stations Nationwide This Week, work = PRWeb, access-date = April 21, 2019, url = https://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/03/prweb12600961.htm, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190423164214/https://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/03/prweb12600961.htm, archive-date = April 23, 2019, url-status = live

{{Cite news, last = Schwartz, first = Ariel, title = YouTube For Good Wants You To Watch World-Changing Films Alongside Cat Videos, work = Fast Company, access-date = April 21, 2019, date = December 18, 2012, url = https://www.fastcompany.com/1681059/youtube-for-good-wants-you-to-watch-worldchanging-films-alongside-cat-videos, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190423164219/https://www.fastcompany.com/1681059/youtube-for-good-wants-you-to-watch-worldchanging-films-alongside-cat-videos, archive-date = April 23, 2019, url-status = live

{{Cite news, last = Streit, first = Valerie, title = Activist's Web site, tweets put new face on homelessness - CNN.com, work = CNN, access-date = April 21, 2019, date = December 1, 2009, url = http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/01/horvath.homeless.website/index.html, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190423164236/http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/01/horvath.homeless.website/index.html, archive-date = April 23, 2019, url-status = live

{{Cite news, last = Sreenivasan, first = Hari, title = InvisiblePeople.tv Aims to Empower Homeless Through Social Media, work = PBS NewsHour, access-date = April 21, 2019, date = August 26, 2011, url = https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/invisiblepeopletv-aims-to-empower-homeless-through-social-media-tech, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190423164617/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/invisiblepeopletv-aims-to-empower-homeless-through-social-media-tech, archive-date = April 23, 2019, url-status = live

{{Cite news, last = Swearingen, first = Jake, title = LA Weekly Web Awards 2012: Mark Horvath, Best Online Do-Gooder, work = L.A. Weekly, access-date = April 21, 2019, date = September 19, 2012, url = https://www.laweekly.com/arts/la-weekly-web-awards-2012-mark-horvath-best-online-do-gooder-2373774, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190423164215/https://www.laweekly.com/arts/la-weekly-web-awards-2012-mark-horvath-best-online-do-gooder-2373774, archive-date = April 23, 2019, url-status = live

Nonprofit institutes based in the United States
Homelessness organizations in the United States
Homelessness in Canada
Homelessness in California
American documentary film producers