Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories

Shifting the narrative on homelessness in America

Opinion

Shifting the narrative on homelessness in America
Getty Images

David Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

The statistics for homelessness in America are truly shocking. The number of homeless people in America as calculated by The Department of Housing and Urban Development and in December of 2022 in their Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) Part 1 to Congress. The report found 582,462 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2022


Unfortunately it is easy to become numb to the statistics and forget about the human suffering each homeless person is experiencing.

To solve the problem we must first shift the narrative surrounding homelessness from statistics and economic impact to the individuals experiencing it. Only by highlighting the human element, we can foster empathy, understanding, and collective action to address the underlying causes and provide meaningful support.

A soon to be released film by Robert Craigs Film, No Address is doing just that. This full feature film shares the story of a group of individuals experiencing this national epidemic due to various personal circumstances. The film reminds us of the human side of those struggling.

Dr. Robert Marbut has worked on issues of homelessness for more than three decades: first as a volunteer, then as chief of staff to San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, next as a White House Fellow to President H.W. Bush (41, the Father), later as a San Antonio City Councilperson/ Mayor-Pro-Term and as the Founding President); CEO of Haven for Hope for five years.

The touching storylines are pulled from the countless hours spent by producers visiting shelters, missions, and organizations that are on the front lines of providing services and solutions. With a direct mission to bring awareness, empathy, and personal activation through this movie, Robert Craig Films is collaborating with corporate partners who share the same vision and wish to support people who need a helping hand to establish a safe and secure life.

This movie is about a group of people that are experiencing homelessness and realize they must bond together as a family if they are going to survive. They all have no address, but earlier in life they did. The day-to-day struggle on the streets is emotionally charged with uncertainty at every corner. Shelter, food and ongoing safety threatens their daily life as each one of them has arrived on the streets through unexpected circumstances. While meeting a few gracious advocates along their journey, the family finds a refreshing new hope to live and get their lives back. Homelessness can happen to anyone… even you and I.

Homelessness isn’t someone else’s issue. It impacts every community in America. Let us address this epidemic together as one.

The following trailer describes the mission and vision of the full length film.

Read More

July 4th and the American Faith We’ve Watched Slip Away

Kids and families celebrate the US Bicentennial near the New York Harbor in Lower Manhattan. Taken on July 4, 1976 in New York City, New York.

(Photo by David Attie/Getty Images.)

July 4th and the American Faith We’ve Watched Slip Away

I was a girl in Philadelphia in the summer when America turned 200. The birthplace of America was electric in a way I've never forgotten — crowds stretching from the art museum steps down to the Delaware River, each city block corded off for parades, cookouts, celebrations, and the kind of noise that felt like belonging.

It was also, I know now, a particular kind of American moment — one that required something beyond good weather and a long weekend. It required a belief that the country and its highest office still belonged to all of us.

Keep ReadingShow less
America's Heartbreak
An american flag waving in the wind
Photo by Danny Burke on Unsplash

America's Heartbreak

As part of a collaboration between The Fulcrum's NextGen initiative and Made By Us, The Fulcrum is publishing Letters to America, a series created through the Youth250 project that invites Gen Z to reflect on the nation’s past, present, and future as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary.

America,

Keep ReadingShow less
How Red and Blue America Can Stay Together by Pulling Apart

United States Marine Corps Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II STOVL stealth multirole fighters belonging to the VMFA-121 "Green Knights" taxiing at the MCAS Iwakuni in Yamaguchi, Japan, on March 23, 2017.

(viper-zero / Getty Images)

How Red and Blue America Can Stay Together by Pulling Apart

In earlier essays, I argued that America’s political division has grown so deep that a peaceful “American Union” of two sovereign nations — one broadly red, one broadly blue — is worth considering. I also argued that relocation fears are overstated, that cooperation could increase economic prosperity, and that separation could help heal the lingering wounds of the Civil War.

But how would this all actually work? What happens to the national debt? Who gets the military bases, federal lands, and nuclear weapons? Will Social Security be protected? Could two nations share the dollar, defend themselves together, and resolve their disagreements?

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk’s new ‘trillionaire’ status is a good thing, actually

SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends an event during the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, on June 16, 2023.

(Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

Elon Musk’s new ‘trillionaire’ status is a good thing, actually

I am not a huge fan of Elon Musk as a political activist or commentator. I think he’s made Twitter — sorry, X — worse. His support for the nationalist right in Europe has been ugly. His tenure leading the Department of Government Efficiency mostly amounted to a missed opportunity and often descended into little more than performative vandalism. His personal life is not exactly consonant with my preference for bourgeois family values. Though, one can hardly accuse him of being a deadbeat dad.

On the other hand, I am a huge fan of his accomplishments in business and engineering. He helped create the foundations of the digital economy with PayPal. At the helm of Tesla, he made the electric car into a viable industry (something climate activists once lionized him for). Starlink, his internet satellite business, has been transformative. And, finally, there’s SpaceX, which went public last week. It’s a testament to human ingenuity, immigrant success and American greatness, on a scale that is hard to describe.

Keep ReadingShow less