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FIRSTHAND: Homeless - The Migrant Experience

Portrait of Emili

Emili
Portrait of Alba

Alba
Portrait of Esteban

Esteban
Portrait of Jose

Jose
Portrait of Victoria

Victoria

As asylum-seekers arrived in Chicago from Latin America over the past year, a public conversation about the mobilization of city services and marshaling of private sector resources began. In Firsthand: Homeless – The Migrant Experience, WTTW explores the complicated migrant experience through the eyes of five individuals who reveal why they left their home countries, their perilous journeys across continents, and the political forces that have shaped their new lives in Chicago as they search for housing, jobs, and education.

Two women in a clothing store looking at a childs winter jacket

Watch Their Stories

Talks

The Power of Housing
Jose Muñoz shares the story of his childhood living in an undocumented family in the Back of the Yards neighborhood of Chicago facing homelessness and food insecurity.
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Migrants in the News

Feeding Those Within Reach: The Local Organization that Meets Unhoused Chicagoans Where They Are
“We’re just trying to provide hope and dignity,” says Farhan Ahmed, a co-founder and president of Chi-Care, which brings restaurant meals and other basic necessities to unhoused Chicagoans and others in need where they live.

Lead support for FIRSTHAND: Homeless is provided by Ann and Rich Carr.

Major support is provided by The Knight Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Edwardson Family Foundation; Joel M. Friedman, President, Alvin H. Baum Family Fund; Denny and Sandy Cummings; the Marc and Jeanne Malnati Family Foundation; Alexandra C. Nichols; and Peter and Alicia Pond.

Expanded coverage for Firsthand: Homeless – The Migrant Experience is provided by the Walder Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, The Field Foundation of Illinois, and Denny and Sandy Cummings.