Few Vanderbilt students can relate to the troubles of the homeless.

But this semester several students partnered up with the Nashville Homeless Power Project to publish a book detailing the roots of homelessness and the struggles many Americans face with finding affordable housing.

On Tuesday, NHPP, which campaigns for affordable housing and living
wage, will be holding a book release party at City Hall from 5 to 6:30
p.m. The event is open to anyone, and several city council members have
been invited to attend.

After receiving a research grant, graduate student Sarah Passino and
her 11 English 102W students started the Vanderbilt Human Rights and
the Arts Project, and they contributed to NHPP’s book “Homeless Power”
by interviewing NHPP members, who are homeless or formerly homeless,
and writing their personal accounts in a special section.

“This experience (enabled me to) make connections with people that I
never would have otherwise, and for me new experiences always give new
insight,” said sophomore Amearah Elsamadicy.

Each student transcribed their interview and wrote about the
individuals’ experiences with homelessness with the help of the
non-profit organization Story Corps.
Story Corps set up booths in the Nashville library for the students to
conduct their interviews, and the interviews were copied for the
students and archived into the Library of Congress.

And through Story Corps the interviews have the possibility of being aired on National Public Radio.

Students also were able to give their own reflections after meeting
NHPP members, hearing their stories and learning about the goals of the
organization.

“People frequently use the term ‘my eyes were opened,’ but I think in
this case it’s more appropriate to say it was my ears that were
opened,” sophomore Sarah Hamburger wrote in the reflections section of
the book. “My ears became open to the sound of voices I’d never heard
before. … Real, human voices that society, myself included, has
silenced for so long. What were they saying? These real human voices
were calling for real human rights.”