On any given night, over 671,857 people sleep without a home to call their own. This experience can be devastating and the way that we react to those without homes can make them feel invisible.  But the experience of sharing ones story is a powerful tool to begin to reverse these trends. INVISIBLE PEOPLE is a multiplatform media project, including a feature-length documentary film and a web campaign, that tells many such stories through the eyes of one formerly homeless man, as he explores innovative responses to this urgent crisis across the country.

Mark Horvath is one of the millions who has been affected by homelessness. Drawing on his firsthand experience of being homeless twice, Mark created the website InvisiblePeople.tv, on which he posts raw, unedited testimony of the homeless men, women and children he meets across America.

This year, in a car lent to him by Ford, Mark is driving over 11,000 miles across the country, meeting homeless individuals and making videos of the people he meets. INVISIBLE PEOPLE follows Mark as he sets out on his 2010 road tour. Mark guides us as we explore the stories of individuals whose lives have become ones of survival: former soccer moms, men destroyed by addiction, children moved constantly from relatives to shelters to sleeping in cars and on the streets. We meet homeless populations overlooked in the media and by service organizations; families, gays and lesbians, and homeless populations in small towns and rural America. Virtually invisible to the public, Mark strives to get their stories to the forefront and to give them the tools to tell their own stories.

Social media has been the backbone of Marks campaign. He has more than 9,000 followers on Twitter, and his videos have been viewed by millions on YouTube, which recently dedicated its homepage to the fight against homelessness.  Slowly his work is shifting perceptions, engaging people nationwide, and delivering a call to action that is being answered by national brands, nonprofit organizations, and everyday citizens.

But this is not just a story about the plight of homelessness.  INVISIBLE PEOPLE is also a story of Marks own struggle with homelessness. His reflections as he journeys from town to town provide a through line for the film: his struggle to the cover the monthly bills as well as the challenge of creating an organization that will thrive beyond his own work. We stop in St. Louis, where Marks crisis began, and in Binghamton, to visit Marks mother, from whom he inherited his fighting spirit. A complex man, Mark provides a nuanced perspective during this quest.

From Los Angeles to Wichita KS to the nations capital, from people homeless for a week to those homeless for forty years, from families living in motels to the elderly under highways, Mark is helping individuals living on the margins to become visible again. As rising unemployment and foreclosures have pushed the numbers of homeless ever higher, Marks mission becomes even more urgent.  INVISIBLE PEOPLE will share the transformational experiences of Mark and those he helps, revealing the frustration and hope of confronting homelessness in America, and making the invisible visible again.

The documentary INVISIBLE PEOPLE and its multiplatform engagement campaign will raise awareness of homelessness issues and explore whats working and whats not in the world of services provided to the homeless.  The campaign will bring the importance of finding and funding long-term strategies to reduce homelessness to the general public but is especially focused in reaching educators, health and social service providers, policymakers, and elected officials.

Our request for funding comes at a critical time in the life of the documentary. Your support will allow us to follow Mark on his road-trip and capture this story as it unfolds. Thank you for your consideration!

This project is a collaboration between Kindling Group, a nonprofit 501(c)3, and See3 Communications. Your donations are tax deductible.