We wanted to make homeless people visible again by both calling attention to a problem and providing a solution. After seeing the genuine reactions of the family members in Make Them Visible, viewers were directed to MakeThemVisible.com, a website that featured real photos and interviews of homeless people living in New York City. The interviews brought to light their stories, thoughts, likes and dislikes, dreams and feelings in an effort to focus on the real people we walk by every day. Visitors could then either share the site to spread the message or donate to the New York City Rescue Mission to directly help fund programs for rehabilitation and provide food, shelter and support for those in need.

Make them Visible launched April 23 and garnered 2 million views in just three days. What started as a local project to change the way New Yorkers looked at the homeless went national, then global, with features on major news programs like ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer and a steady spot on YouTube’s Top 20 Worldwide. With 30,347,846 social impressions and over 14,000 social mentions, reach still shows no signs of slowing. Our initial goal was to raise awareness in New York City, but we ended up bringing the issue to a global stage.