February 26, 2021 – The Dallas Morning News – Allison Hatfield
Dallas-based photographer Richard Sharum mostly uses his talents to bring awareness to socio-economic or social justice dilemmas. He began working with Family Gateway in 2018 to document children in Dallas who are homeless and either attending or attempting to attend school. Over the years, that initial project evolved into an even larger one — documenting homelessness among families at the shelter. On Mar. 12, Sharum will talk with the organization’s president and CEO, Ellen Magnis, about his experiences photographing those families during a free virtual event.
Texas Monthly published photos from the project in its February 2021 issue, along with moving vignettes written by Dallas-based writer Michael Mooney. The article, titled “I Never Thought I’d Be Without a Home,” is an eye-opening look at the lives of families without fixed addresses. During the webinar, Sharum will share photos and stories not featured in the magazine.
“When Richard first came to us, he wanted to do a project on students in school who are experiencing homelessness. He was trying to connect with organizations that serve that population,” says Kendall Brown, director of marketing and youth engagement at Family Gateway. “Over time, the project evolved into the broader topic of family homelessness in general. He would come and go and take pictures of small moments and big moments and everything in between and document what it was like to experience homelessness as a family.”
The Texas Monthly story was planned for spring 2020. Mooney spent time developing each family’s story early last year. But the magazine pressed pause when the pandemic hit. Sharum, however, kept moving forward with his work, continuing to follow families all last year. When Texas Monthly circled back, editors wanted to also include original photos of families impacted by COVID.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Brown says about the piece, adding that it “does a really good job of shining a light on the fact that families with children do experience homelessness. This is an issue in our city. We sometimes refer to this demographic as the invisible population of the homeless.”
A leader in D-FW and Texas, Family Gateway serves thousands of families like those featured in Sharum’s project. In 2017, it became the first homelessness agency to implement an assessment and diversion practice in Dallas to help divert families away from homelessness and assist them with other options. In 2019, it was the only organization in Texas to receive a Bezos Day 1 Families Fund leadership award, which has helped pave a path forward for the invaluable programs and services Family Gateway provides.
In 2020, it fielded more than 4,000 calls through the city’s Homeless Crisis Helpline and identified roughly 1,575 families as literally or imminently homeless — an estimated 4,725 children. Of the nearly 550 families who needed shelter care last year, 80% were served by Family Gateway.
What makes the organization different is that it’s the only emergency shelter in Dallas that serves families of all kinds, Brown says. “Other shelters may require that parents be married or they disallow males over a certain age. We don’t define what a family looks like, so we serve grandparents with grandchildren, single moms, single dads, same-gender couples with kids. For a lot of families, we are their only option.”
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