Are you in Davos during the World Economic Forum (January 22-25)? Have you ever helped a homeless person? Do you believe the Fourth Industrial Revolution can create sustainable work and dignified housing for and with homeless people? Would you like to show others at Davos how actions speak louder than words?
If you've answered "Yes" to all four questions you have officially qualified as someone who can participate in #HomelessEntrepreneur's 29th monthly sleepout between January 22nd-25th during the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Why is #HomelessEntrepreneur participating in the World Economic Forum?
“We believe that the ‘fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres’ can clarify our role as stakeholders (private corporations, public administration, universities, NGOs and citizens) and, ultimately, speed up the process of ending homelessness through an inclusive, holistic model that inspires active citizen participation.”
SLEEPING IN THE STREET IS NOT A JOKING MATTER
Sleeping in the street for one night isn’t going to kill you in most countries, but sleeping there every night can and will especially in winter and during dangerous cold fronts. Hypothermia, which occurs when a person’s body temperature falls below 95ºF (35ºC) (watch video about side effects), is a serious threat for homeless people living in extremely cold conditions. Data collected in the city of Olsztyn, Poland showed that “deaths caused by hypothermia were thirteen-fold more frequently recorded among the homeless than for the general population.”
What are #HomelessEntrepreneur’s goals at the World Economic Forum?
Raise Awareness both online and offline: We will communicate with World Economic Forum guests online as well as in Davos to build upon our 3 strategic pillars; knowledge, recognition and change. The goal is that these conversations with politicians, businessmen and businesswomen, and other leaders of society as well as journalists lead to real proposals that turn into real change.
Example: Connected with Basima Abdulrahman, one of the Co-Chairs in the Annual Meeting in Davos (2019), via Twitter and hope to meet with her in person during the World Economic Forum. She is a green building advocate who founded Keskco, which is the first initiative established to embrace the concept of green design and construction in Iraq. We would like to discuss how green buildings can speed up the process of creating sustainable jobs and dignified housing for and with homeless people.
Build Partnerships: We are looking to partner up with corporations and individuals who would like to help transform our business processes with the ultimate goal of creating more job and housing opportunities for and with homeless people in our program. A current example: We are using blockchain technology with Comgo to provide our donors with a comprehensive smart contracts solution for transparency, auditability and accountability.
Example: As soon as we create a new partnership in Davos, we will share it in this article. Contact us if you’re interested!
Raise Funds: Our goal is to raise 1,500,000€, which would be distributed as follows:
250,000€: Consolidate #HomelessEntrepreneur Foundation.
250,000€: International Expansion.
1,000,000€: Build #HomelessEntrepreneur community in 5 new cities. We are looking for 5 investors who can donate 200,000€ each. Each investor may choose the city of his or her choice.
If you are interested in using our model to end homelessness in your city, please send an email requesting our general presentation for investors and a meeting with #HomelessEntrepreneur’s President, Andrew Funk: funk@homelessentrepreneur.org.
Example: As soon as we raise funds, we will share it in this article. Please contact us if you’re interested in donating!
Thanks to Haibu 4.0, we were able to raise funds for the travel expenses, which means that there will be 5 of us going this year instead of 2, and, most importantly, one of those people is a #HomelessEntrepreneur from our program!
How is #HomelessEntrepreneur participating in the World Economic Forum?
We will be sleeping out in the cold from January 21-25 as well as communicating a clear positive message with every person we encounter, while smiling and wishing everyone an amazing day and successful event.
Example of commitment: This will be our second year sleeping out in below freezing weather to give a voice to #HomelessEntrepreneurs around the world. Last year, Andrew Funk wrote an article called “Homelessness affects everyone, even leaders in Davos” after his first night sleeping out with #HE coordinator, Juan Carlos Viniegra in -6ºC. Thanks to Patrick Fok, a journalist who was working for Reuters at the time, we had the opportunity to invite world leaders to join us in a conversation regarding how we can end homelessness. The weather forecast for our first night this year is -14ºC.
We will be starting and continuing conversation with those attending the event in a formal and informal way, which will depend on each person/organization.
Example of a continued conversation: If you remember us from last year, please say hi so we can explain how we’ve progressed since last year!
We would like to invite all guests participating in the World Economic Forum who would like to experience homelessness with us to sleep out with us.
Challenge: If you or anyone you know in Davos is interested in an unforgettable experience that money cannot pay for, please contact us via email: funk@homelessentrepreneur.org.
And most importantly, we will start working with the new partners who decide to help speed up the process of creating sustainable work and dignified housing for and with our organization.
Example: As soon as we start working with a new partner, we will share it in this article. Contact us if you’re interested!
WHAT SHOULD YOU BRING IF YOU WANT TO SLEEP OUT WITH US?
1) An extremely warm sleeping bag!
2) An open mind
3) A few good jokes (optional)
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IF YOU CAN'T SLEEP OUT WITH US?
Share this post with people you know who may be interested in joining us. It's free and you can do it on your phone from wherever you are!
If you’d like to help end homelessness for an individual in our program by sponsoring him or her, you can also participate like Invoice Ninja, who has sponsored part of Gabriel’s program! Please send us an email to funk@homelessentrepreneur.org if you are interested in this option.
19 Likes, 0 Comments - Andrew Funk (@andrewfunkspain) on Instagram: "Although Gabi doesn't speak English or Hebrew, he wanted to show his gratitude to @appinvoiceninja..."
CAN WE CREATE A BETTER FUTURE FOR & WITH HOMELESS PEOPLE IN THE AGE OF THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION?
Yes, and we should because active citizen participation is the only solution!
IF YOU'D LIKE TO MAKE A GENERAL DONATION TO HELP US SPEED UP THE PROCESS OF CREATING WORK AND HOUSING FOR AND WITH HOMELESS PEOPLE IN OUR PROGRAM, PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK: DONATE.
“For further information, please email us at funk@homelessentrepreneur.org
or call us at +34 697 877 089.
— Andrew Funk, President of #HomelessEntrepreneur