Homeless Take to the Tube

Meet the newest staff to work on a television show: A group of homeless men and women in Minnesota.

According to a story on CNN.com, an initiative in St. Paul aims to offer homeless folks the chance to work on a local cable television show. The show not only helps educate the public about homelessness, it provides valuable job training skills to the less fortunate.

The program was started by Luis Alvarenga, a former TV and radio reporter from El Salvador who now works as a pastor at St. Paul's First Lutheran Church. The latest in Alvarenga's series of cable-access TV shows is "Voices for Change," a program presented and produced by homeless people. All shows are produced at St. Paul Neighborhood Network's local studios, and some homeless staffers have already learned very marketable skill sets.

Ron Kenebrew, a man who became homeless after he was released from prison, took additional classes through the station, which allowed him to shoot some freelance videos for high schools to earn some extra dough. Kenebrew says he's toying with the idea of becoming a professional cinematographer -- a huge step up from where he was just a few short years ago.

Ted Dennis, the host of the program and chairman of the non-profit Voices for Change, says that the program not only teaches marketable skills, it changes the stigma associated with homelessness.

"Because of our efforts on the air... people think about what it means -- who's homeless, what it means to be homeless, what it means to call someone homeless -- differently," Dennis told CNN.com.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.