Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia offers a provocative talk about improving coverage of poverty and homelessness. Gray-Garcia left school in 6th grade after spending much of her childhood homeless in California. In 1996, she founded POOR Magazine and the PoorNewsNetworkÌ¢‰â”a grassroots arts organization dedicated to reframing news from the perspective of poor people. She’ll share her thoughts on the ethics of reporting on poverty, and offer advice to young journalists on how to do a better job on the poverty beat.

POOR Magazine provides vocational training, arts and literacy education and multimedia access to low-income adults and children. Tiny is a teacher, multimedia producer and author of Criminal of Poverty: Growing Up Homeless in America, published by City Lights. Currently, she is the communications director for Justice Matters, a nonprofit that promotes racial justice in schools.