Homeless Entrepreneur Announces New Mobility and Outreach Partner

Homeless Entrepreneur Announces Giveback as New Mobility and Outreach Partner for The Great Walk to the FIFA World Cup Finals 2026

Barcelona, Spain – May 29, 2026 – Homeless Entrepreneur, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people out of homelessness through dignity, employment, and community, is proud to announce Giveback, "the currency of giving, a FinTech software company pioneering global charitable impact via the blockchain" - (Keaton B, CEO, Giveback Ventures), as the official Mobility and Outreach Partner for The Great Walk by Homeless Entrepreneur to the FIFA World Cup Finals in 2026, where we aim to raise $175,000 (150,000€) to uplift 1,500 people made of potential out of homelessness.

The Great Walk, which is a 93 mile (150 km) initiative in 5 days for 150 million homeless people is led by Homeless Entrepreneur’s founder president, Andrew Funk, who is walking with Great Walk lead, Professor Tuck, Giveback and PMI’s PMWB members along with many more people from Philadelphia to Metlife Stadium to reach the FIFA World Cup Finals in North America. Along the way, the walk will engage city leaders, businesses, media, and citizens in conversations about ending homelessness while creating sustainable pathways out of homelessness through Homeless Entrepreneur’s main programs (Helpine, Voices & HELP program) as well as safeguards to prevent it.

Together with Giveback, Homeless Entrepreneur will launch the outreach phase of The Great Walk on July 13th in Philadelphia, providing food and connectivity that lead to new opportunities for the local homeless community. The outreach will also take place on July 18th in New York City, New York, where we will team up with PMI NYC and local charities. We also aim to celebrate the FIFA World Cup finals with fans watching it on game day!

““As we celebrate our 40th year, PMI New York City is proud and excited to partner with the Homeless Entrepreneur on the World Cup Walk’s 8th Edition and to give back to local charities, because when nonprofits, charities, volunteers, and community members come together, we build the kind of community that uplifts everyone.””

— Vinesh Naicker, Director of Community Service at PMI NYC Chapter

The innovative concept behind this partnership is that we’re going to activate both the homeless community and the global support network to grow together by bridging two worlds that are often disconnected, and demonstrating that solidarity is the most powerful catalyst for ending homelessness.

““The Great Walk is a statement that the people sleeping on our streets have names, gifts, and something to offer the world. That’s exactly what Homeless Entrepreneur understands, and it’s exactly why we knew we had to be part of this.
At Giveback, our mission has always been about getting real resources to real people. The World Cup is one of the most watched moments on earth, and walking with this movement means that this mission gets seen by the world. We’re honored to create social impact with an organization that treats the homeless people like entrepreneurs working towards an opportunity instead of a problem that needs to be mitigated””

— Giveback Ventures

"This partnership with Giveback is a game-changer for The Great Walk," said Andrew Funk, Founder president of Homeless Entrepreneur. "Mobility and connectivity will shorten the distance between being homeless and having a place to call home. By creating meaningful interactions and connecting them with our Helpline (+34 697 877 089) and bringing the homeless community and the World Cup community into the same conversation, we are showing the world that we can truly score and win together. From Philadelphia to East Rutherford, we are 26 to end homelessness!

Throughout the journey, the team will host community events, conduct street outreach, share stories through our Voices program, and invite supporters worldwide to join the movement through donations, volunteering, and advocacy. The FIFA World Cup Finals 2026, hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, provides a powerful global stage to spotlight homelessness as a solvable challenge.

About Homeless Entrepreneur Founded in 2015, Homeless Entrepreneur’s mission is to promote economic empowerment and poverty reduction via work and active citizenship thanks to both public and private civic partnerships, so people living in social exclusion can improve their quality of life. Learn more at www.homelessentrepreneur.org.

Media Contact:

Andrew Funk, founder president of Homeless Entrepreneur

funk@homelessentrepreneur.org

Home Field Advantage

How FIFA can Activate Inclusion in the 2026 World Cup

Written by Olivia Lorenzo, Mariam Mamaladze, Sebastian Poe and Andu Precupas

Missed Opportunity

U.S. Cities hosting FIFA World Cup Games in 2026

The hosting of the 2026 World Cup presents FIFA with the opportunity to elevate and integrate people experiencing homelessness. However, past World Cups demonstrate that without activation-based solutions, negative externalities are created for vulnerable populations. During the preparation for the 2014 World Cup, approximately 22,000 families were removed from Rio de Janeiro to attain an aesthetic city image (Kassens-Noor and Ladd, 2019). This displacement reflects a larger preference for international spectacle over local vulnerability, which also contributes to housing precariousness. Redirecting the capital, lobbying power, and governmental support used to facilitate displacement toward inclusive housing initiatives and social services could have provided sustainable support for the 22,000 displaced families. The missed opportunities of past World Cups reveal an opportunity for FIFA to redefine the social legacy of mega-events by investing in solutions tailored to the realities of homelessness.

Dimensions of Homelessness

It is important to understand that people experiencing homelessness are not a homogenous group. Rather, there are four types of homelessness: transitional, episodic, chronic, and hidden. Transitional homelessness is short-term and results from sudden crises, with individuals returning to stable housing relatively quickly. Episodic homelessness involves repeated cycles of entering and exiting homelessness over time, often linked to ongoing instability. Chronic homelessness is long-term and associated with complex issues such as marginalization, substance abuse, and mental illness, despite affecting a smaller population (Lee et al., 2010). Lastly, hidden homelessness includes those not captured in official counts, such as individuals in unstable housing or temporarily staying with others (Crawley et al., 2013). 

According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, across the eleven US host cities, the visibly homeless population was around 260,000 in January 2024 (HUD, 2024). It has been estimated that hidden homelessness accounts for 80% of people experiencing homelessness (Crawley et al., 2013). Thus, the true number of people experiencing homelessness in the eleven US host cities may be closer to 1.3 million, of which 1 million are hidden. It is precisely these people who FIFA can most easily empower.

Corporate Social Responsibility

The prevalence of homelessness in US host cities presents corporate social responsibility (CSR) concerns for FIFA, as the World Cup is projected to generate billions in revenue. However, this investment does not trickle down to people experiencing homelessness, presenting a blind spot and investment opportunity. 

In recent years, FIFA has begun to display CSR, investing resources to support community programs. In 2019, FIFA began partnering with the World Health Organization for awareness campaigns such as #SafeHome (domestic violence), #BeActive (regular physical activity), and #ACTTogether (Covid-19 regulations) (World Health Organization, 2023). 

This initiative reflects a broader trend. A meta-analysis review of CSR research found that consumers are now expecting “organizational actions and policies that take into account stakeholders’ expectations and the triple bottom line of economic, social, and environmental performance” (Aguinis and Glavas, 2012). As global attention turns to the World Cup, expectations for FIFA to offer meaningful social inclusion are increasing, making engagement with vulnerable communities both a moral and long-term necessity. 

Opportunity for FIFA

FIFA has the opportunity to elevate the experience of its stakeholders and address homelessness by partnering with Homeless Entrepreneur, an organization dedicated to supporting individuals experiencing homelessness, with a focus on hidden homelessness. A large-scale randomized study completed for the Journey to Social Inclusion program discovered that integrated interventions combining housing, skills development, and personalized support significantly improved housing stability and employment outcomes for people experiencing homelessness (Moledina et al., 2021). Homeless entrepreneur offers immediate and practical solutions to this end:

Helpline: +34 697 877 089

The HE helpline connects those experiencing or at risk of homelessness to available resources, aiming to prevent and reduce homelessness and poverty, costing ~$19 a person. 

Voices Program

The voices program allows people experiencing homelessness to create videos explaining their circumstances and skills, connecting them with housing and employment opportunities through their communities. It costs ~$63 to share one person’s story with the world.

HELP Program

The HELP program, a holistic one-year initiative, provides a support pathway to independence through incentivizing employment opportunities and fostering entrepreneurial activities. With just $3,000, it can fully empower one person out of homelessness.

FIFA’s slogan for the upcoming world cup is “We are 26." In collaboration with the Homeless Entrepreneur, with a mere $150,000, an insignificant number compared to the billions invested into the 2026 World Cup, 1,575 people can benefit from the Helpline, 475 can benefit from the Voices program, and they can help 26 exit homelessness.

Conclusion

The 2026 FIFA World Cup represents a unique opportunity to implement Homeless Entrepreneur’s activation solutions at scale across the 11 host cities in the United States. It is in FIFA’s best interest to enter this partnership to further their corporate social responsibility initiatives, create a measurable and lasting legacy, and improve stakeholder experience. 

What YOU Can Do

Donate: The World Cup Great Walk (VIP) | Homeless Entrepreneur Foundation (Desarrollado por Donorbox)

Share this message

• Raise awareness and visibility by sharing this article, helping to bring it to the attention of FIFA decision-makers.

Support The World Cup Great Walk

• The World Cup Great Walk is an initiative to raise funds and awareness for people experiencing homelessness. To participate, donate, or spread the word, visit https://www.homelessentrepreneur.org/en/solidary-projects/the-world-cup-great-walk.

• Spread #WeAre26HE to End Homelessness on social media!

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About this Research ➡ This research was developed by undergraduate students at ESADE Business School as part of the Bachelor in Transformational Leadership and Social Impact program. 

Connect with one of the authors, Olivia Lorenzo, via LinkedIn!

Works Cited

Aneke, K. C. (2025). Housing rights implications of hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Toronto and Vancouver: Towards a legal framework that effectively protects the right to adequate housing in Canada (Master’s thesis, University of Saskatchewan). Harvest. https://harvest.usask.ca/items/10988d0d-fb4d-4f5b-9847-474800eb6d0d

Aguinis, H., & Glavas, A. (2012). What we know and don’t know about corporate social responsibility: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 38(4), 932–968. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311436079

Crawley J., Kane D., Atkinson-Plato L., Hamilton M., Dobson K., Watson J. (2013). Needs of the hidden homeless – no longer hidden: a pilot study. Public Health, Volume 127, Issue 7, Pages 674-680. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2013.04.006.

HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). (2024). The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress: Part 1: Point-in-Time estimates of homelessness. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf

Kassens-Noor, E., & Ladd, J. (2019). No right to share the city: Being homeless in Rio de Janeiro during the FIFA World Cup. Human Geography, 12(2), 51–63. https://doi.org/10.1177/194277861901200204  

Lee, B. A., Tyler, K. A., & Wright, J. D. (2010). The New Homelessness Revisited. Annual review of sociology, 36, 501–521. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115940

Moledina, A., Magwood, O., Agbata, E., Hung, J. H., Saad, A., Thavorn, K., & Pottie, K. (2021). A comprehensive review of prioritised interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of persons with lived experience of homelessness. Campbell systematic reviews, 17(2), e1154. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1154

Qi, D., Abri, K., Mukherjee, M. R., Rosenwohl-Mack, A., Khoeur, L., Barnard, L., & Knight, K. R. (2022). Health impact of street sweeps from the perspective of healthcare providers. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 37(14), 3707–3714. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-022-07471-y

World Health Organization. (2023, May 24). FIFA and WHO extend collaboration to promote health through football. https://www.who.int/news/item/24-05-2023-fifa-and-who-extend-collaboration-to-promote-health-through-football  

Beyond the Label of Homelessness

How reframing personal narratives and dismantling hiring biases can open real employment doors for people experiencing homelessness

By: Johanne Cossin, Mariana Galbero, Esmeralda Ibarra

For years, it was believed by employers and homeless people alike that homelessness was something to be ashamed of. According to a study conducted by Camardese and Youngman, “People experiencing or at risk of homelessness are typically described or stereotyped (for example, in the media) as unmotivated, resistant to services, and content to rely on income support.”(Mavromaras et al. 2011) This is a widespread view that does not reflect the reality of most individuals experiencing homelessness. Actually, according to other research, “homeless adults are no less motivated or interested in work than other adults are” (Mavromaras et al. 2011) and yet they are continuously discriminated against in the employment process. This misconception leads to them being severely undervalued in the labor market. Therefore, reframing homelessness is necessary because it can positively impact homeless individuals’ employment opportunities by strengthening their personal narrative and directly targeting the biases within the employment process. Thus, becoming a shared accountability between the individual and the system, improving the individuals’ self-esteem, and, in turn, how they are perceived by employers.

The first step comes from the individual becoming aware of the narrative they have attached to their identity. As Toporek and Cohen explain, personal narratives include one's self-perception in relation to their environment and experiences; internalizing a negative narrative around self-worth leads people to “dwell on their personal deficiencies and envision failure scenarios”, (Toporek, R. L., & Cohen, R. F. 2017). Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, they are perceived through their deficiencies which also shapes how they present themselves to potential employers. A productive intervention is therefore to redirect this narrative toward what psychologists Markus and Nurius (1986) call “possible selves”: mental images of who one could become. Possible selves are specific and motivating, they function as cognitive bridges between a person's current circumstances and a future professional identity, giving them something concrete to orient toward and communicate to employers. This shifts the individual's focus from what they lack to what they are capable of becoming, which not only improves self-esteem but also increases persistence through adversity. The Homeless Entrepreneur's Voices Program applies this by inviting people experiencing homelessness to articulate their own story on their own terms through their website. This creates space for them to gain internal clarity while simultaneously providing them with visibility for employers. (Dunkel, C., & Kerpelman, J. 2006)

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But what are positive and active agents? Those who take initiative, search for opportunities, and persist through adversity, what researchers call a “proactive personality.” This concept sits at the heart of Ryan D. Duffy et al.'s Psychology of Work Theory (PWT), which offers a useful framework for understanding how people experiencing homelessness navigate the labor market. PWT proposes that decent work, employment that is safe, fairly compensated, and fulfilling, is not equally accessible to everyone, and that structural factors such as economic marginalization and societal bias act as significant barriers to attaining it. However, the theory also identifies a set of moderators that can mitigate the impact of these barriers, among them proactive personality and social support. While the obstacles are real, cultivating a proactive orientation can transform an individual's ability to navigate them. This shows how a positive personal narrative toward agency and possibility is a grounded strategy that improves self-esteem, strengthens how individuals present themselves to employers, and increases the likelihood of securing and sustaining employment.  

Although individuals are often made to carry the full responsibility of facing homelessness, some barriers go beyond a person’s behaviour. Addressing systematic issues requires shifting part of the accountability onto the system by targeting the biases within the employment process. Returning to Duffy et al.'s PWT, job readiness emerges as another key moderator that can facilitate this process. The labor market tends to prioritize candidates who seem to be “ideal jobseekers”: someone presentable, healthy, housed, emotionally stable, with a work history and references (Mavromaras et al. 2011). This is a result of the marginalization of people who have economic constraints or represent some minority; a majority of cases of those experiencing homelessness. Being unfairly scanned and disregarded, these individuals find it harder to find work, even though they may be “job-ready.” A concrete step employers can take to mitigate this is to revise hiring criteria that excludes people experiencing homelessness, such as fixed address requirements, employment gaps, and the absence of professional references, none of which are reliable indicators of job performance.

If an individual does secure employment, the probability of sustaining it long term is very slim, a recurring pattern seen as career advisors tend to “neglect” people experiencing homelessness as soon as they find employment believing that they will become fully independent. This lack of follow through identified by the 'Homeless Entrepreneur's’ organisation resulted in the creation of the HELP Program, a one-year program that “provides a support pathway to independence through incentivizing employment opportunities and fostering entrepreneurial activities.”

Having empowered over 3,500 homeless beneficiaries, Homeless Entrepreneur has proven that maintaining network support increases the likelihood of people experiencing homelessness to permanently overcome it. Homeless Entrepreneur was built on the vision of supporting people “willing and able to give their best;” but who lack the network, resources, and continued support necessary to act on that willingness.

Erik Eklund is a great example of how someone experiencing homelessness can turn his or her life around.

Reframing homelessness unlocks employment opportunities for people experiencing homelessness, by rebuilding personal narrative and dismantling institutional barriers. Supporting individuals in reclaiming their voices and reframing their story improves how they present themselves as respected candidates. But, individual effort alone is not enough; hiring processes must sustain support through training programs, advising, etc. This is what will truly give people experiencing homelessness a fair and sustained chance to rebuild their lives. The discrimination they face is outdated, and it is our collective responsibility to challenge the systems that reinforce their exclusion from the labour market. As Homeless Entrepreneur's work shows, these are people willing and able to give their best, they simply need the network, resources, and sustained support to make that possible. It is time for us to even the playing field, amplify their voices and that as they stand up for themselves, they do not have to stand alone. 

*Thank you for reading this article! If you would like to contribute your thoughts, pictures or videos to this article or believe you have found mistakes and/or misinformation, please contact us and tell us about it by clicking on the button next to this text, so we can take your feedback into consideration.

Connect with the authors, Johanne Cossin, Mariana Galbero and Esmeralda Ibarra via LinkedIn!

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References

APA Citing

1)  Mavromaras, K., King, D., Macaitis, K., Mallett, S., & Batterham, D. (2011). Finding work: Homelessness and employment. Canberra: Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

2)  Toporek, R. L., & Cohen, R. F. (2017). Strength‐based narrative résumé counseling: Constructing positive career identities from difficult employment histories. The Career Development Quarterly, 65(3), 222-236.

3) Dillahunt, T. R., Garvin, M., Held, M., & Hui, J. (2021). Implications for supporting marginalized job seekers: Lessons from employment centers. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5(CSCW2), 1-24.

4) Dunkel, C., & Kerpelman, J. (2006). Possible selves: Theory, research and applications. Nova Publishers.

Editor & VR Review Reflection

Our revision process was informed by two rounds of feedback: a peer critical review of the written article, and a trial VR presentation of our delivery.

On the written side, the early draft of the article we showed to Johanne’s roommate (our designated external editor) presented several weaknesses that required substantial revision. Our theoretical framework, particularly the introduction of the Psychology of Work Theory and proactive personality, was initially underdeveloped. We were name-dropping concepts without fully explaining their mechanics or relevance. So, in response, we rewrote that section to clearly define PWT, explain the role of moderators in practical terms, and make the logical connection to homelessness explicit. 

Similarly, our original framing of the “future story” concept relied on informal language that leaned into referencing manifestation and vision boards; this undermined the academic vocabulary we were aiming for. We replaced this entirely with Markus and Nurius's possible selves theory, which provided the same conceptual function but with proper empirical grounding. We also addressed an imbalance in structure between the individual and systemic sections of the article (we had much more words on personal narrative than systemic biases), expanding the latter to give institutional barriers (such as hiring bias and the marginalization of minority groups) the analytical depth they deserved. We made additional revisions like tightening our thesis statement that repeated itself in the introduction, removing informal phrasing, and relocating the Homeless Entrepreneur quote from the conclusion into the body of the article where it could be properly contextualized (and wouldn’t be bringing up new evidence in the conclusion).

On the delivery side, our trial VR presentation identified three individual areas for improvement: clarity of elocution when responding to questions, speech pace, and overuse of filler words. Each one of us worked on our specific weakness through targeted rehearsal. We also received collective feedback on eye contact and physical presence, which we addressed by reducing dependence on our slides and becoming more intentional about how we occupied the space during delivery (by practicing without notes and filming ourselves to look back on our movements). The Q&A feedback was particularly instructive : our answers, while seemingly okay, missed the precise theoretical vocabulary present in our evidence. So, we revisited our sources and prepared structured answers grounded in PWT and possible selves theory with the help of an AI, to ensure our spoken responses would reflect the same rigor as the written article.

All together, this process helped and pushed us to treat the presentation not as a summary of our article, but as a performance to show our thorough understanding of the subject.