Award-Winning Multimedia Journalist
Award-Winning Multimedia Journalist
Faces of Homeless Youth is an in-depth report on the epidemic of youth homelessness in the City of Philadelphia intended to shed light on an issue that impacts the city every day.
There are hundreds — maybe thousands — of young people who are homeless on the streets of Philadelphia. They are mostly invisible. You pass by them on the street; sit across from them on the train. They go to school and work, but don't have a safe place to sleep at night.
NBC10 digital reporters Vince Lattanzio and Morgan Zalot delved into the issue over a two-month period by embedding themselves in the only crisis shelter in the city that exclusively serves young adults, as well as by spending time on city streets interviewing young people who are currently in the throes of homelessness.
The project includes a 30 minute TV special, digital shorts, articles and galleries.
Experience what life is like for homeless youth living in Philadelphia. NBC10's Rosemary Connors, Morgan Zalot and Vince Lattanzio introduce us to several young people who are fighting for a place to call home.
This 30 minute program was broadcast and streamed digitally. It is one of several pieces from this special project.
Homeless youth are so difficult to track because they're adroit at blending in, oftentimes hiding in plain sight.
On the surface, they're like many other kids. They have smartphones and go to school. They hang out at friends’ houses. Some play sports. Others excel academically, taking refuge at school, like Zinqueece Gittings, for whom that was one of the only sure-bet safe places. They have dreams. They want to go to college. They want to work, earn money, get married, and have homes and families of their own.
To most college kids, breaks from school mean a respite with all the comforts of home.
But for kids like Matthew Bennett and Alexis Whitt, college breaks — when most schools close dorms — mean becoming homeless again.
Matt and Alexis, both 21, are among what Covenant House Pennsylvania staffers say is a little-known population of the kids who stay in homeless shelters: college students who have nowhere to go.
Read the full story.