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Young and Homeless--NY Times

Young and Homeless


Craig Blankenhorn for The New York Times
Missy Race, 22, and her 10-month-old son, David Martinez, are living in transitional housing. Because she is unable to afford daycare, it’s difficult for her to go on job interviews: “If I bring David with me, I know I won’t get the job because it’s unprofessional.” 
SADLY for the children across America who are homeless today, neither presidential campaign is expected to pay much attention to them, with big policy speeches or new ideas about improving their situation.
Multimedia
There are 1.6 million homeless children in the United States. I want to be the witness to this, to provide evidence of their bleak condition. I want to speak for the victimized children of our country who aren’t even fully cognizant of their own poverty. Infants, young children and teenagers are living on the streets, in hotel rooms and in their parents’ cars, forsaken by bad luck. It is my hope that these photographs will show this problem to those who are unaware or have done their best to ignore this issue.
The families who were willing to share their stories made this project possible. I have photographed them in cities around the country, including Janesville and Beloit, Wis., Kissimmee, Fla., and in Essex County, N.J.
Recently, I spent a week with homeless families in Tampa, Fla., site of the Republican convention. The common refrain of the parents was this: “It’s the kids — they don’t deserve this.”
Craig Blankenhorn is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant and has work in the permanent collection at the Museum of the City of New York.

FOR MORE and photos
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/opinion/sunday/young-and-homeless.html?_r=1

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