Fund an Empathy Exhibit in Port Townsend

**Budget Edit - Budget was increased on 11/4 by $400. There were so many unhoused neighbors who wanted to tell their unique stories that the budget went over cover the additional compensation. Thank you <3

Hello folks! My name is Eden and I'm a local queer/poc public health practitioner, ethnobotanist, artist, researcher, and graduate student of the University of Washington. After my lived experience with homelessness, I've been driven to reduce stigma towards our unhoused neighbors. With the support of Jefferson County Public Health, I'm launching a project called 'Curating Empathy' with the goal of building empathy and reducing stigma that housed community members hold against unhoused community members. This project will cost a total of $2,000 with a majority of the funds going directly to unhoused community members for their participation (see budget below).

Unhoused community members will sign-up for this projects and be given a disposable camera then asked to photograph things that are meaningful to them about their home and their connection to this place. Once the photos have been developed, discussing the photos will result in narratives of which produce themes. After this phase, a community exhibition of the photos will be displayed in as many venues as possible, the higher the exposure the more likely this will create change within our community.

This project is being modeled after the research style of Photovoice. Photovoice is a direct-action research method created by feminist Carloine Wang and Mar Ann Burris in the early 1990’s where “people can identify, represent, and enhance their community through a photographic technique.” Photovoice is a unique research style that centers community members perspectives, what they feel the strengths and concerns are within their community, and empowers them to be catalysts for change. Photovoice has been identified as a community-based participatory action research style which means it involves research participants at every level, making this a highly adaptable and customizable research design.

Budget for the project:

Notice the funds also include compensating for two local youth/young adults interested in STEM as well as a local photographer to teach the a photography class.