introduction

Welcome to A Homeless Project!

My name is Randy Guess, and I have had a burden for many years now to fulfill a vision: defining and clarifying the social issues surrounding the reality of homelessness in our world today. My life's circumstances have made me, in many ways, qualified to attempt to do this. I graduated from Howard Payne University in 1982 as a Sumner's Scholar with a broad-based social sciences degree and journalism. I have worked as a journalist and photographer. While I haven't published commercially (or attempted to), my entire life has been a preparation for this great adventure. Years have been spent in the creation of a plan that I believe will provide the most accurate view possible of the homeless subculture and the ways our society perceives them, and what might realistically be done to help those on the lower rungs of society. I have already spent over a year (at various times throughout the past decade) living among the homeless in Houston, Texas; Denver Colorado and Honolulu, Hawaii.

The broad plan is to travel to a number of cities across the United States which represent a median cross-section of cultural mores and values. This would be done as a blitz, spending 1-3 days in each city taking notes and pictures of the homeless in their environments and the social services that cater to them, accompanied by intense advance preparation, researching the best places to go and people "in the know" who could, in each location, help me acquire an accurate view of the conditions in their locale. Three or four of the most representative large cities would be chosen to return to for a more extended exploration of a month or more.

Along the way, the hardcore work of compiling statistics and sifting through legal, political and economic issues will continue through the internet and at available libraries and institutions. The goal is to create both a serious book worthy of college classrooms and, perhaps, a set of "homeless chronicles" more in the tradition of "On The Road." It would help greatly if I could develop a network of partners who could provide advice, information and references, moral and monetary support. My conviction is that the better the network, the better the book.

Look for more details as you explore A Homeless Project website...

about this site

Inside this site you will discover more information about the issues of homelessness, further details about this project, and what you might be able to do to assist in the cause. A good place to start is at the menu you see to the right... the Why, How, When and Where of the project. There is a section detailing the possibilities of partnering with me in this journey, and a forum for sharing.