Invisible People (organization)

Invisible People was founded by Mark Horvath. In the early 1990s, California resident[5] Horvath worked as a television distribution executive,[6][7][8] but addiction to drugs and alcohol resulted in him becoming homeless in 1995.[5][9][10] After eight years,[7][11] he sought rehabilitation with the help of the Los Angeles Dream Center[6][9] and, in 2005, relocated to St. Louis, Missouri.[6][7]

Mark Horvath, founder of InvisiblePeople.tv, in 2009

During the Great Recession, Horvath lost his job and home,[11][12][9] and returned to Los Angeles.[6] Facing homelessness again, he recorded interviews with homeless people on a Flipcam and posted them on YouTube and Twitter.[9][10] In November 2008, Invisible People was launched. It is registered in the United States as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.[13][14]

The guy you see on the street with the cardboard sign – that's actually a very small demographic of homelessness ... you don't see these people on the street corner. You have families tripling up; you have people living in their cars. You have people, especially the homeless youth population, doing survival sex and all kinds of horrible things just to have a place to stay, and you have the huge amount of families living in hotels and they can't save up for first and last month's rent.

— Mark Horvath, 2011[7]

Horvath describes the organization as "a conversation about solutions to end homelessness" that "gives homeless people a chance to tell their own story."[7] Interviews on the subjects' sufferings are recorded using a hand-held videocamera, microphone, laptop, and iPhone, and posted unedited on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.[6]

Horvath initially interviewed subjects in California, then expanded across the United States and beyond, including Canada[7] Peru,[12] and the United Kingdom.[13] Hovarth travels worldwide to raise awareness about homelessness.[15][16] 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.[8]

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.[6] The organization has also partnered with Hanes in the ten-year-old Hanes National Sock Drive raising awareness about the homeless Americans.[2]

By 2010, the organization had released interviews with over 200 homeless people.[12] In 2011, a privately owned, non governmental, Not For Profit Homeless Organization based in Calgary commissioned Invisible People to tour 24 cities in Canada,[17] starting on July 4 in Victoria and ending on September 12 in St. John's, including stops in Toronto and Calgary.[7][11][18] The organization’s website received 50,000 hits per month in 2011.[11]

... some of the strongest stories – the people who are really most isolated or have gone through the toughest things – are those who wouldn't speak to me. They won't speak to anyone anymore.

— Mark Horvath, 2010[12]

According to NBC News, Horvath's interviews give the homeless a face and a voice.[19] The interviews conducted by the non-profit have resulted in assistance being provided to the interviewed subjects.[20] On August 22, 2010, YouTube allowed Horvath and Invisible People to curate YouTube's homepage for a day.[21] In 2012, LA Weekly awarded Invisible People and its founder, Mark Horvath, a "Best Online Do-Gooder" award.[9]

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the viewers raised money to buy shoes for 50 schoolchildren.[9] In Arkansas, a farmer donated 40 acres to create a farm that feeds 150 homeless people a week.[9][12] 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.[11][9] Housing programs have also been started in Arkansas and Calgary following the organization's tours in those cities.[6][5][22]

A documentary about Invisible People entitled "@home" won the 2014 Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival Best Documentary Award and aired on PBS in 2015.[14][23]

• Homelessness
• Homelessness in the United States
• Homelessness in Canada