This Labor Day weekend Kutztown University student writers, photographers, videographers and graphic/web designers will all be visiting the Opportunity House, a residential and transitional housing shelter in Reading, to participate in an immersive journalism event, the first of its kind in the area. The program will run from Saturday morning, Sept. 5 until Monday morning, Sept. 7.
The event will be led by KU professional writing student Dawn Heinbach.
Students will be eating with, talking with and even living with Opportunity House residents and staff over the weekend, all with the hopes of producing a complete web/print publication that addresses the issue of homelessness.
According to Heinbach “1,000 print copies are going to be distributed at various locations around Berks AND surrounding counties. They are free.”
She also hopes that “the online and print publications that we produce this weekend will give the residents of local communities a different perspective on homelessness.”
Led by Heinbach, with the assistance of KU faculty members, Patrick Walters and Bruce Jensen, this program ultimately looks to place students in an unusual situation that allow them to bring an often ignored situation to light.
The program is based on a previous event participated in by Heinbach called Will Write For Food originally based in Hollywood, Fla.
