Michigan's Camp Take Notice Provides a New Model for Tent Cities

by Mark Horvath · 2010-09-20 07:47:00 UTC
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This new video comes from Mark's InvisiblePeople.tv 30-city, 11,000-mile, 75-day road trip, going on now.

Over the last two years I've walked into many tent communities. After my first steps into Sacramento's Tent City (read about day one and day two), I remember how shocked I was that this was America. At the same time I was overwhelmed by the thought that the growth of tent cities could become our nation's future.

I'll never forget the day I walked into Nickelsville, a self-governing tent city in Washington encouraging a real community for support and healing. Call me an old hippie if you want. I fell in love with this tent city model. It truly is gorgeous. But after reflection I saw something else. Nickelsville is a slap in our (homeless services) face. These people should not have to live homeless like this, and the reason they do is because we (homeless services) failed to help them. Point blank: the only reason tent cities exist in the first place is because the shelter system is broken.

Lily Au, a housewife who was once helped by a homeless man and now helps fight homelessness, recently asked me to visit a tent city in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After a long drive and a long walk into the woods we arrived at Camp Take Notice, home for about 20 people. It's unique in that it's an itinerant tent city; so far it has moved six times. It was there I met Caleb Poirier, a brilliant young man who prefers to just say he is the organizer of Camp Take Notice. Below is a short interview with Caleb that I hope you'll take the time to watch.

I learned so much from my short time with Caleb. My biggest takeaway is that he believes the shelter system consists of vertical support — meaning help comes down from employees to the homeless population then stops. In the tent city model support is horizontal — with homeless people helping other homeless people. There is much truth to that and I hope homeless service providers will look at horizontal support solutions empowering homeless people to help each other. Here is a short interview with Caleb at Camp Take Notice:

Photo credit: InvisiblePeople.tv

Mark Horvath is an activist for the homeless. He vlogs at invisiblepeople.tv and blogs at hardlynormal.com. He was formerly homeless in Hollywood.
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