Your Impact
The Problem
There are an estimated 2,000 people experiencing homelessness in Nashville, TN, while some homeless advocates say the number is misleading and it could be as high as 20,000.
“The intersection between homelessness and unemployment (or underemployment) is multifaceted and multidirectional. Individuals may fall into homelessness as a result of job loss, or conversely may lose their job due to difficulties experienced as a result of the onset of homelessness. Further, substantial systematic, programmatic and personal barriers exist for people experiencing homelessness to re-enter the job market. Over the last three decades important economic and social policy shifts have occurred resulting in astronomical growth of working-aged adults among the homeless and those at risk of homelessness.”
A Creative Solution
The goal of our Artist Collective Program is to increase accessibility to creative non-traditional forms of employment, which counteracts employment barriers and rising housing costs. Participants earn income through their creative talent by producing marketable art, gaining artistic and entrepreneurial skills, and publicly displaying their work so they can increase their financial independence. Since 2014, Daybreak Arts has served more than 120 artists and paid out more than $90,000 to artists impacted by homelessness in Nashville, TN.
Our Artist Collective Program participants are currently or formerly homeless adults who have an artistic background or passion. They each have barriers to traditional employment and income due to a variety of complex circumstances, including physical and intellectual disabilities, mental illness, domestic abuse and trauma, incarceration, age, and more.
Resilience Despite Workplace Discrimination: A.M. HASSAN’s Story
“There is a terrible attitude towards homeless people in the workforce. When I was living in California, I worked for a company that laid off a lot of people, and I ended up getting unemployment. I used my associates degree in architectural engineering to get a job at an aerospace company maintaining building plans. Right as I was transitioning into that job, someone stole my expected unemployment check when rent was due. My husband and I ended up getting kicked out of our apartment and became homeless while he continued to work and I started my new job.
My husband and I ended up finding a place where we could rent a car weekly, and it was cheaper than we could find and save for an apartment. We started living in the rented car and paying for parking spaces at wildlife reserves and parks at night to sleep. Sometimes when I slept in the car, there were times when I didn’t get to lay down for three or four days straight. However, I always made sure I took showers at truck stops, was on time to work, and it never impacted my performance. In fact, I even ended up helping save the day at the company once when there was a major leak, and I was the only one still at work able to read the building plans.
Unfortunately, one day my supervisor found out I was homeless and sleeping in a car. She used the fact that I no longer lived at the address I provided when applying as an excuse to fire me.
So even though my work performance wasn’t any different, the stigma of being homeless made them to let me go.
Before this, I had painted and exhibited artwork in Nashville back in the seventies. I displayed my work at both the Parthenon and the Italian Street Festival. However, for decades I was unable to paint because I had to work and raise a family. When I became disabled and had time again, I picked back up my paint brush. However, by that point I didn’t have the right degrees and background to get into galleries. I would not have had a way to showcase my art if it hadn’t been for Daybreak Arts.” — Daybreak Artist, A.M. HASSAN
Thank you A Positive Impact for creating this short film featuring our Founder, Nicole, and Daybreak Artists, A.M. HASSAN, BANDY, Beth Gunn, and Thaddaeus Tekell.
July 2023-June 2024
Annual Report
