From author Michaela Haas for Reasons to Be Cheerful, “A unique Housing First effort in Düsseldorf combines art, newspapers and advocacy to pair the unhoused with apartments.”

“The nonprofit fiftyfifty, which receives no support from the state, derives funding not only from its newspaper — which regularly publishes renowned authors — but also from its aforementioned gallery…Today, Fiftyfifty owns 50 apartments that house 60 people permanently, plus about a dozen more apartments that wealthy locals have loaned at no cost to unhoused people.”

“With its artsy touch, fiftyfifty brings a unique twist to the Housing First approach, which posits that people should be housed before they’re expected to tackle their other challenges. The model is still comparatively new in Germany, but has been successful in reducing chronic homelessness in countries such as Finland and Canada.”

“Housing First was pioneered in the U.S. and Canada. By giving people permanent housing with a lock and a key — no bunk beds, no cubicles, no theft — social workers help them address other issues, such as debt, addiction or joblessness.”

Read the full article here.

The AVPN conference plans to livestream their session, “Learning from failure in philanthropy,” from Bali on June 23 at 8:45 CEST.

“In this event, our panelists will answer the following questions:”

What has been the Asian experience of this?
Which funders and social investors have engaged with these questions?
How do they adapt their strategy and put resources behind learning to profit from mistakes
What kind of cultural changes are necessary for them to become genuine learning organisations?
What are some of the examples of best practice in learning from failures and how can these be adapted by other organisations

Panelists include Akhil Shahani (Shahani Group), Jennifer Chen (The Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation), Stefan Schaefers (King Baudouin Foundation), Sumit Joshi (Lorinet Foundation), and Andrew Milner (Alliance).

Register for the livestream here.

From The Phoenix Newspaper: “A new start-up called Ad Astra has launched, becoming the UK’s first non-fungible token (NFT) agency that specialises in connecting artists, art collectors and galleries with end-to-end NFT services.”

“The company intends to break down the entry barriers for many artists who have the desire, but not the resources, to create and sell innovative NFTs that fully utilise the potential of the medium.”

“Emily Wigoder, CEO and founder of Ad Astra said, ‘The possibilities of the NFT world are endless, and yet, many artists, galleries and traditional art collectors are holding back from entering this space.’

‘Upon investigation, we found that the costs, complications and perceived risks with the NFT space were stopping initially interested artists and art enthusiasts from benefitting from the many opportunities that are available. This is exactly why we created Ad Astra – a turn-key NFT creation agency that has a passion for both traditional art and NFTs, and believes that the art world and its artists belong in the art and technology of the future.'”

Read the full article here.