PROJECT HUMAN DIGNITY … HOMELESS, NOT HOPELESS
Like around the country, chronic homelessness is growing in Utah. Our challenge was to change the way we view the homeless to garner greater public support for significant financial resources to help them. When most people think of or encounter the homeless, the typical reaction is “not my problem.”
We believed the first step in solving this crisis was to think of the homeless not as “a problem,” but as our fellow human beings. We needed to show the homeless in a completely different way: with dignity.
That is how Project Human Dignity was born.
To make people forget images that have become so much a part of who the homeless are, we needed visuals that were just as arresting and a narrative that helped change WHAT to WHO?
So, we enlisted the help of industry-renowned director, Sasha Levinson, and celebrity photographer, Victoria Stevens, to depict actual homeless people in a way that was dignified, empathetic and respectful. Both donated their services, along with over 100 hours of R&R’s time through the R&R Foundation.
The resulting work delivered 38,629,782 impressions over the 45 days of the campaign, along with 20,000 new website visitors.
The campaign launched during the 2024 Utah legislative session, helping secure public and government support for more than $50 million dedicated to emergency homeless services, including plans for a new 600- to 800-bed emergency homeless shelter in the state.