Streaming media from Films on Demand
Children of the Night: The Lost Ones
The problems faced by teenagers considering running away usually seem totally unique and insurmountable. Children of the Night begins by showing viewers that they aren’t alone and encouraging them to find other methods to work out their problems. Visit Hollywood—a haven for teenage runaways from all over the country who are hoping to be "discovered." Learn what they discovered the hard way—which is usually far from what they expected when venturing out on their own. Runaways discuss their reasons for turning away from their lives and moving to the streets. Viewers learn what homeless kids do to survive—dealing drugs, panhandling, prostitution—survival techniques typical among runaways. Professionals who work with homeless teenagers discuss the dangers of life on the streets and the fact that many adults take advantage of street kids. Viewers are warned about the addictiveness of life on the streets and how difficult it is to get away once the street habit has become a way of life. Through the real-life experiences of runaways and those who help them survive, viewers learn that turning to the streets should be their last alternative. The streets won’t make their problems go away—instead, they will be replaced with permanent and often life-threatening problems. A Cambridge Educational Production. (27 minutes).
Dignity Harbor
Dignity Harbor chronicles a group of homeless people living in an encampment along the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis. In the shadow of the Arch, several makeshift communities—Hopeville, Sparta, and Dignity Harbor—are erected when work begins to fill the tunnels under Tucker Boulevard, displacing many homeless. In Dignity Harbor, the self-appointed mayor promises a safe environment—women are especially to be welcomed—and the residents work cooperatively to cut wood and build rudimentary shelters. But conflicts inevitably arise, tempers occasionally flare, and everyone struggles to survive the harsh St. Louis winter. Although the utopian dream finally dies for good when the city bulldozes the shantytowns, not all is lost, with several of the residents moving to more permanent housing.
Doctor in Public Hospital Tends to Homeless Patient ca. 1987
In the late 1980s, homelessness was becoming an increasingly visible problem in the United States, particularly in urban areas. Despite the best efforts of public health facilities, when faced with more serious medical issues, the homeless were rarely able to receive adequate medical care due to the limited public funds available to them.
Hollywood Homeless: Inside Secret America
In this program, investigative journalists Mariana van Zeller and Darren Foster explore firsthand the little-seen world of America's homeless youth. A National Geographic Production. (48 min.)
Homeless
This video investigates in detail one of the specific groups in need in our community, the homeless. The case study focuses on Gary, a man who has been homeless for over twenty years. Through his story we gain an understanding of some of the characteristics and needs of the homeless. Students can examine a vital support network used by Gary, the holistic strategist uses to help him learn life skills, experience a sense of belonging and identify and hence contribute to his level of well being.
Homeless: A Teen Perspective
Filthy clothes, needle marks, panhandling…is this an accurate picture of teenage homelessness? Going behind common stereotypes, this video tells human stories about human beings—most of them young people who know homelessness firsthand. Amber and Tieshi describe the harsh reality of life on the street, clearly demonstrating the same needs, fears, and hopes that all teens have. Andy explains what it’s like to live in a car and why homeless teens should never give up or lose hope. Cindy and others describe the effects of homelessness on families, while Liz Murray describes her personal journey from homeless teen to Harvard student and New York Times journalist. (16 minutes)
Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County
Journalist/producer/filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi – who has built an award-winning reputation with her playful, politically charged HBO documentaries about George Bush, Ted Haggard and conservative America – shifts her focus to a serious social issue that has been exacerbated by the recent economic downturn: homelessness among children of the working poor. Shot over the course of the summer of 2009, Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County follows several Southern California children who have taken up residence at discounted motels within walking distance of Disneyland, spending their childhoods in limbo as their families struggle to survive in one of the wealthiest regions of America. As we see, though the community is trying to provide the children with adequate education and food, the day-to-day lives of motel kids are more often than not a numbing exercise in boredom, frustration, and ever-diminishing expectations. An HBO Production. Full Video (60:00)
Homelessness: The Housing First Approach
By 2015, homelessness may be a thing of the past in Portland, Oregon. Taking a “housing first” stance, Portland has reversed the cause-and-effect approach to urban renewal by first securing homes for its homeless residents and then helping them solve the problems that made them homeless to begin with. In this program, Victoria, British Columbia, applies Portland’s public policy to its own homeless population. Can the comprehensive and collaborative Portland model be transplanted to this once-quaint seaside city and restore the dignity and stability of its dispossessed? (23 minutes).
The Mad Housers: Shelter for the Homeless
Based on a true story, Richard Kiley and Sam Robards star in this drama about a group of architecture students who take action after an encounter with a homeless man and woman. The real Mad Housers are an Atlanta-based group that has already built nearly 100 huts for the homeless. (48 minutes).
Obvious Poverty: America's Homeless
Stereotypes tell us it’s easy to spot the homeless—after all, life on the street tends to leave a mark on people. But is a “homeless profile” really meaningful? In today’s economy a man in a business suit might well be living in his car; and besides, to those in society’s upper echelons, homelessness is often invisible. This program offers a profound exploration of homelessness, focusing on factors like addiction, financial hardship, mental illness, domestic abuse, and the inability to transcend a criminal background. It also outlines methods for combating homelessness in communities and in American society. Interviews with homeless people bring a real-world understanding to the issues, shedding light on the job search frustrations, bureaucratic challenges, and lack of personal safety that go hand in hand with a shelterless existence.
Side Tracks: Homeless in New York
This award-winning program takes an unflinching look at the lives of Bernard and Bobby, two men who live in an abandoned railroad tunnel that extends beneath Manhattan’s Riverside Park. Bernard says that he came there for shelter and self-knowledge; for Bobby, having grown up in numerous foster homes, it was just a case of another type of homelessness. In the course of discussing the lives they’ve chosen and their connections with the world above, they touch upon the surprising lack of violence in their community, the way they find the food and earn the money they need to live, and the camaraderie they share. (30 minutes)
Streets of Plenty: Inside the World of the Homeless
What is the relationship between addiction and homelessness? Where does personal responsibility fit into the equation? Should street addicts be left to their own devices, or do full-service shelters, legalized heroin dispensaries, and other provisions make for smart urban policy? In search of answers, Misha Klieder has put away his sociology textbooks and opted for real-life experience—spending close to a month sleeping and scavenging in the crime-infested Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, Canada. Beginning as a semi-farcical challenge to standard liberal views of homelessness, Misha’s story takes on darker dimensions as he encounters severe health problems and, in an even more ominous turn, becomes a crack and heroin consumer. A startling journey inside urban North America’s most intractable social problem. Contains mature themes, extensive profanity, and explicit scenes of drug use. (65 minutes)
Throwaway Teens
In this program, ABC News anchor Connie Chung explores the plight of young people who are disowned by their families because of their sexual orientation and are forced to live or die on the streets. Intimate case studies involving three teenagers struggling to exist in Los Angeles, Des Moines, and New York City provide insights into homelessness, child prostitution, drug abuse, and attitudes toward homosexuality. A sampling of services available to street kids, provided by organizations such as the Hetrick-Martin Institute and the Iowa Homeless Youth Center, are profiled. (27 minutes)
