The FIFDH Paris has, for the last 10 years, been the most important cultural manifestation on the theme of Human Rights in France. Each year, they offer directors from all over the world the opportunity to present their work and to meet the public. From over 500 films that are watched each year, they select only about 20 works to be shown, and we are deeply honored to be among them.

In early January, The Fledgling Fund, a foundation that supports social issue documentaries and their impact campaigns, announced its first round of 2015 grantees. The Homestretch team, one of 18 films/campaigns recognized, is thrilled to have been awarded $15,000 to support outreach and engagement.

"We are excited by these stories, their potential to activate audiences and communities, and...by the commitment of the filmmakers to maximize their impact," said Fledgling in their grant announcement. The foundation has a 10 year history, supporting over 300 projects and infusing nearly 12 million dollars into social issue filmmaking.

On Thursday, November 20th, The Homestretch team delivered winter gear and 1 inch white binders to Cesar E. Chavez School. This comes as part of the film’s ongoing CauseVox campaign, collecting donations and contributing items to 12 of the noble CPS schools working to serve homeless youth.

Nine years ago, I began CPS Shakespeare! with my friend and colleague, Marilyn Halperin at Chicago Shakespeare Theat. It was through this program that Anne and I found the film. When we started hearing about students who were homeless, and then when we discovered that (at that time five years ago) there were 15,000 kids registered as homeless with the Chicago Public Schools, we were shocked. And no one seemed to be talking about it. We knew we had to do this film.

Newcity, a Chicago publication, recently named The Homestretch Best Illumination of a Heartbreaking Issue that Few Know About. This incredible news comes just as the film is ramping up its presence in Chicago, with a second week of showings at the Gene Siskel Film Center and community screenings with dozens of Chicago organizations.

Prior to The Homestretch's second Chicago theatrical run, the Gene Siskel Film Center is hosting an Educator Open House and private screening of the film on Saturday, November 15th at 1:00 p.m. This appreciation event is open to educators at all levels K-12 through university.

The Homestretch will screen for over 8,000 educators at the 2015 SXSWedu conference, held in Austin, Texas March 9-12, 2015. The film was one of just three titles announced this week for the conference.

The Homestretch's Call to Action took physical form on Monday, October 6th when we dropped off book bags and hygiene products at Burke Elementary on Chicago’s South Side. Burke Elementary, and their homeless clerk Trinni Ferguson, was one off 12 CPS schools chosen to receive support for their efforts serving some of the 22,000+ homeless youth enrolled in Chicago schools. This first delivery from our Call to Action was made possible by the generosity of those who stepped up during our Chicago launch at the Gene Siskel Film Center. THANK YOU! We’re on to our next school: Cesar E. Chavez. Help us get them the coats, scarves and gloves they need by signing on to the-homestretch.causevox.com. Help us make a concrete difference in Chicago!

On Thursday night, our theatrical run at the Gene Siskel Film Center concluded. Bringing the film home to Chicago was a powerful experience, and we were so honored to have the film be welcomed so enthusiastically this past week. It means so much that the film is beginning to do it’s work in the world - we had sold out audiences and film critics like Richard Roeper calling the film “heartbreaking.”

With a grant from the Lefkofsky Foundation, used and unused footage from the film’s theatrical version was combined to capture the struggles homeless youth face and the role schools play helping them survive. This educational reel, which played during the Homeless Liaison Training’s introduction, served as an emotional and empathetic compliment to the information rich sessions that followed.