The Tent Cities Toolkit: A multimedia grassroots primer is an interactive DVD organizing tool focused on issues of homelessness and the role of grassroots, democratic tent cities as a necessary step to resolving homelessness. The Toolkit aims to raise awareness of the nationwide lack of housing and criminalization of the poor, and to provide a practical set of resources for creating a tent city or alternative housing in communities nationwide.

The Grassroots Primer DVD and its companion website are intended to mobilize grassroots tent city advocacy efforts, connecting housed and unhoused activists worldwide into a cohesive political force for effective social change. Future tools within the Tent Cities Toolkit will focus on policy-makers, neighborhood groups, new residents of tent cities, and educational institutions.

Through informative videos and computer-based resources, the Tent Cities Toolkit offers practical hands-on information on the creation of grassroots, democratic tent city communities.  Developed through a unique collaborative partnership between Dignity Village and Kwamba Productions, the Toolkit uses the visionary example of Dignity Village in Portland, Oregon as a case study.
2006 | digital video | DVD/DVD-ROM | color | stereo | ~100 minutes

The Tent Cities Toolkit includes:

Chapter Titles in the Tent Cities Toolkit - Grassroots Primer:

• Why Tent Cities?
• Direct Action and Organizing
• Outreach and Partnerships
• Eco-friendly Living Spaces
• Democracy and Organization
• Mission and Services
• Tent City Networking
• Pets
• Special features:
• Introductory video
• Set-up and help section
• Behind the scenes

Credits:

Producers, Directors, Cinematography:
Wendy Kohn and Heather Mosher

Written by:  
Kwamba Productions in association with Dignity Village, Inc

Additional cameras:
Chrysler Chelle, Ross Bennett, K. Shawn Edgar, Dave Hirschman, Travis Ougheltree, Kenny Two-Dawgs, and Sarah Van Borek

Editor:
Heather Mosher

Assistant Editors:
Tessa Davis, K. Shawn Edgar, and Steven Wong

Design:
Junko Suzuki, Summer Kaplan, and Wendy Kohn

Narration by Dignity Village:
Sheri, Bill, Ross Bennett, Chrysler Chelle, Dave Hirschman, Lleanne Hazard, Timothy McCarthy, Randy McKee, Travis Ougheltree, Susan Parker, Gaye Reyes, Jack Tafari, and Ron Wold

Photography:
Laura Brown, Chrysler Chelle, Ronda Flanzbaum (Dome Village), Tom Hovland, Jason E. Kaplan, Wendy Kohn, Lee Larson, Heather Mosher, Bryan Pollard, Osaka Japan Comrades, Jack Tafari, and Chrissy Washburn

Music:
Ross Bennett, Deane Ogden Studios, and Earthforce

Endorsed by:
The National Coalition for the Homeless

Funded in part by:
Ben and Jerry’s Foundation , The Oregon Council for the Humanities, and the Larson Legacy

Image Credits: Laura Brown, Ronda Flanzbaum (Dome Village), Jason E. Kaplan, Mark Lakeman, Lee Larson, Tim Merrill, Jack Tafari, and Kwamba