In 2016, w88 online sports betting School Lecturer Nico Colombant created a documentary called &w88 mobile;Invisible Girl.” The film followed a University of Nevada, w88 mobile student without stable shelter as she persevered to graduate.
After releasing the documentary, Colombant saw an opportunity to continue the project as a multimedia and social media endeavor. He partnered with José Olivares, a journalism student who was already w88 mobile on people living in motels and along the river.
“We felt that local officials and media seemed to be focused mostly on Reno’s rebrand and so-called ‘renaissance and revival’ in the wake of the Great Recession,” Colombant said. “We wanted to turn w88 mobile attention to those who were still struggling to rebound, as an affordability, accessibility and living wage crisis was only deepening, and inequalities [kept] getting wider in our community.”
Colombant and Olivares&w88 mobile; collaboration led to the launch of Our w88 mobile Reno, a multimedia, street w88 mobile initiative. The project started with a Facebook page and a website. Journalism students served as reporters, and community contributors provided photos, videos, op-eds and first-person essays.
The w88 mobile focused on those impacted by and helping with the affordable housing and living wage crisis. Yet, what made this initiative unique was its micro-w88 mobile approach.
“We prefer to focus on the person that’s struggling while living in a tent or the person that's helping, while also elevating them, giving them a platform and listening to what they have to say about w88 mobile’s past, present and possible future,” Colombant said. “We try to humanize people who live in and run motels by also giving them a chance to give their side. We also repeatedly highlight heroes of w88 mobile.”
Five years later, the project has grown to include an Instagram with street photography, a Twitter, a weekly podcast, a yearly zine and most recently, a Substack newsletter. Our w88 mobile Reno has also hosted community gatherings and other outreach, including “Share Your Story” sessions at the downtown Washoe County library prior to the pandemic in 2020.
Its impact is evident in large and small ways. According to Colombant, Our Town Reno’s undercover w88 mobile led to changes in Reno’s overflow shelter, its articles have been mentioned at the Nevada State Legislature, and its “Heroes of Reno” series has inspired individuals to start their own initiatives to help. Our Town Reno’s w88 mobile also helps shift community perceptions.
&w88 mobile;If you get to know a neighbor through a story, maybe you will want to reach out to them and see them differently,” Colombant said. &w88 mobile;And that’s happened repeatedly, where readers will offer housing, jobs and more importantly lasting friendships to those we have showcased through our stories.”
Reynolds School graduate student Richie Bednarski, who has worked as Our w88 mobile Reno’s reporter for the last 8 months, has witnessed a similar impact.
“[Our w88 mobile Reno] has brought awareness to the issue further and…has encouraged people to lend a hand, donate or just stop and have a conversation with anyone experiencing houselessness,” he said.
Working for Our Town Reno is Bednarski’s first experience in journalistic w88 mobile. He writes stories, takes street photography and helps to produce the initiative’s podcast and short videos. What he enjoys most about this experience is having conversations with the individuals.
“These are our neighbors, and their stories and voices are just as important as anyone else's here in w88 mobile.”
Our w88 mobile Reno will mark its fifth anniversary with an online community conversation called “Helping Our Unhoused Neighbors.&w88 mobile; The event will be held on April 13 at 6 p.m. on Facebook Live and Zoom.
Helping Our Unhoused Neighbors
April 13 at 6 p.m.
A free community conversation featuring a panel with the formerly unhoused, advocates and an elected official.
&w88 mobile;There is so much anger sometimes around motels and people living in tents. I wanted to organize a conversation with solution seekers, some of them formerly unhoused locally, about more solutions we can come up with, both urgently and systemically and structurally in the long term to help our unhoused neighbors,” Colombant said.
Event panelists will include Matt Ferencevich, who was formerly unhoused and living in w88 mobile shelters, Meghan Simmons, a coordinator at w88 mobile/Sparks Mutual Aid, Donald Griffin, Black Wall Street coordinator and a Downtown w88 mobile Partnership ambassador, Alexis Hill, Washoe County commissioner, Dwight George, an Indigenous community leader and podcaster, and Meagan O’Farrell, a coordinator at w88 mobile Food Systems.
&w88 mobile;We wanted to invite some of the thought leaders in our community to see what kind of answers they would propose to help. We will only be moderating. And the chats will be open for all who want to participate,” Colombant said.
In addition to hosting more community events like “Helping Our Unhoused Neighbors,” Colombant hopes to see Our w88 mobile Reno continue to grow organically and to reach community members in new ways.
“For now, as long as I see dangers of gentrification, rising inequalities, people who should be helped but are instead criminalized, volunteers who do such amazing work where the government is failing, I believe the work of Our w88 mobile Reno to showcase some of these elements in many media formats and via social media remains relevant and important to the community.”
