In the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual point-in-time report for 2023, there were 653,104 homeless Americans. That is a 12.1% increase from the 2022 report and the highest number reported overall since the annual count began in 2007.

A Bigger Vision Films, a documentary and video production company, realized that few solutions were being provided in most documentaries concerning homelessness, so they created their own. It is called “Beyond the Bridge: A Solution to Homelessness.”

The documentary had a screening at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at the Pablo Center in Eau Claire. 

The film team includes Don Sawyer, the producer and director, and Tim Hashko, the cinematographer and editor. They drove over 40,000 miles to visiting 12 cities, where they worked with policy makers and service providers to get answers.

The question that “Beyond the Bridge” is trying to answer is: “How can this country solve homelessness in a comprehensive way?”

Through their research, the team found that by using the principles of Housing First, as well as community buy-in from businesses, service providers, volunteers, law enforcement, judicial systems and city and county leadership, they can create a homelessness response systems plan.

One of the sponsors of this event is Home for Good, an organization that works to “provide safe, affordable housing for families with children experiencing housing insecurity in downtown Eau Claire.” 

“Astri Graceheart is the program director of Home for Good and the one of the organizers of the film screening event, along with David Carlson of C.C. We Adapt, an Eau Claire-based social enterprise that contracts with counties across Wisconsin to provide peer mentorship services to those experiencing challenges related to substance use or mental health.”

“We support families currently experiencing homelessness and staying in vehicles or shelters, families that are in overcrowded situations or families that are just about to lose their housing,” Graceheart said. “We’re also a university town, so the housing market is really competitive.”

According to Graceheart, one city that stuck out in the documentary was Milwaukee, Wisconsin. About five years ago, the homelessness crisis in Milwaukee was receiving national and federal attention, and city officials knew something needed to be done immediately.  

“They researched what works, and they discovered that Housing First is where all the data and the evidence lies,” Graceheart said. “They designed a county-wide, comprehensive approach to homelessness using those principles.”

Within the first year of this plan, 100 of the highest-need, unsheltered individuals in Milwaukee received housing. To date, the retention rate is 96% and the county now has a 45% reduction in homelessness.

“[The film crew] interviewed everyone, from people living on the street to people in the highest levels of government and everyone in between,” Graceheart said. “The message of the film is that we have to work together, coordinate deeply and do it with evidence-based strategy.”

The goals of the “Beyond the Bridge” campaign are to change the national discourse on solutions to homelessness as well as the narrative about people experiencing homelessness.

“The discourse around people experiencing homelessness is pretty negative and fearful,” Graceheart said. “With the appropriate support, we have members who could really be a contributing part of this community.” 

Graceheart met the creators of the documentary, Sawyer and Hashko, at a national conference where the film was first launched.

“Eau Claire is on the tour schedule because I said to them, ‘My home, my community, really needs this. What do we need to do to bring it?’” Graceheart said. 

Eau Claire is part of a 40-city screening tour of “Beyond the Bridge” occurring throughout 2024 and 2025. At each event, there will be panels and Q&As afterwards, meant to inspire audience members to discuss how they can take action in their local communities.

According to Graceheart, the screening of the documentary is not supposed to be a one-off, it is a launch event for strategic planning and ongoing conversation as a community.

The screening of “Beyond the Bridge” at the Pablo Center is sponsored by the Eau Claire Community Foundation, C.C. We Adapt, Home for Good of Eau Claire, the Pablo Foundation, Pablo Center at the Confluence and the Center for Racial & Restorative Justice at UW-Eau Claire.

Graceheart encourages UW-Eau Claire students to attend the screening.

“We love your energy,” Graceheart said. “You’re also our future leaders, so there are ways that you can be engaged right now. As you move forward, you should be well informed about what doesn’t work, what does work, who experiences this and what you can do about it.”

Matczak can be reached at [email protected].