About this project

"Invisible families," an exploration of family homelessness, was produced as part of a fellowship through Seattle University, funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Fellows included The Seattle Times, journalists from three other media organizations and two freelance journalists.

The foundation said it sponsored the fellowship to focus attention on homeless families. It did not stipulate how fellows should pursue their work, nor did it review what they produced. Each fellow was granted a $15,000 stipend. The Times used its stipend in part to enable a staff member to serve as project manager of contributions from the paper's online news partners.

Times journalists interviewed and photographed dozens of people who work with homeless families and the families themselves, including Cherie Moore and her son, who lived in their truck for three weeks. While The Times did not advocate for them while reporting their story, the family may have received some benefits more quickly because of the newspaper's involvement. A Times journalist did on one night initiate a call to police, which resulted in permission to park that night at Renton City Hall.