What is an ugly truth about the profile of a homeless person in America?
America’s Next Top Model is back in New York and in its second episode, which airs tonight, things are getting a little bit real. The episode brings the fourteen newest model wannabes to the not always fashionable streets. After the troupe mingles with the tourists at their fashion show in Times Square, it’s off to their first photo shoot. For regular watchers of the show you’ll know there’s always a theme to the shoots, well tonight…they pose as homeless people. For those who recall the 2001 flick Zoolander, you’ll know this isn’t the first time homelessness and fashion have converged on screen. In that movie, Will Ferrell’s character Mugatu designs a line called Derelicte, described as “a way of life inspired by the very homeless, the vagrants, the crackwhores that make this wonderful city so unique.” Off-screen Mary-Kate Olsen has made that homeless-chic look into a trend. But you just know Tyra is going to make this serious — see video of her going undercover as a homeless perso
Nobody seems to know this awful fact: one out of every three homeless in America is under the age of 18. Yikes. This year alone, there are 1.6 million young American adults who are homeless. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, the majority of homeless and runaway youth are between the ages of 15 and 17. However, 13% of these kids are age 12 or younger. A third of all runaways will attempt suicide and homeless youth are up to ten times more likely to have or contract HIV than non-homeless adolescents. We launched a “Teens for Jeans” Campaign to collect donated denim for these homeless kids-but also to drive awareness of youth homelessness more generally. So bring your jeans to a local Aeropostale store and know that you’re clothing a homeless kid. Better yet, email this blog to 3 friends and know that you’re shedding light on a dark secret about youth homelessness in America. Sources:
