Background & Accomplishments - Hearts Of Fire Project
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Background & Accomplishments

The Hearts Of Fire Project empowers homeless people to connect with themselves and the community through art and music. Through this connection, stereotypical fears and negative attitudes are replaced with a new understanding of the humanity we all share. This understanding forms the basis for new conversations about shared solutions and how everyone benefits by the inclusion and integration of homeless people in our communities. To reduce systemic inequities we must reduce the barriers between people. Many of these inequities are based on and perpetuated by economic distinctions between people. We bridge these economic barriers by providing a way to interact through the arts and share the common elements of the human experience. We believe that positive social change is based on the establishment and nourishment of communities that include everyone.

The Hearts Of Fire Project is a non-profit corporation based in Santa Barbara, California and is an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) organization. Since 2007, we have traveled 18,000 miles visiting homeless shelters up an down the West and the East coasts of America. At the shelters, more than 300 men, women and children have participated in our programs. We have also held 18 public events where we displayed the art work that homeless participants created and engaged the community in a powerful conversation about who homeless people are and what they have to offer. At these events, we have developed substantial community support and a committed volunteer corps.

The consumer culture in which we live produces many negative consequences, both human and environmental. Homelessness is one human consequence. The growing economic disparities accelerated by the massive economic disruptions now underway have produced suffering not only on the physical level but on an emotional and spiritual level as well. Social alienation of the homeless is endemic in our culture and serves to keep us trapped in negative attitudes about the poor and homeless as well magnifying our concerns about the viability of our own survival. We seek real interaction between the homeless and the public to break through social barriers for the benefit of all.