Homeless advocate Diane Nilan to speak on campus Nov. 20

Diane Nilan, founder and president of Hear Us, Inc., a national advocacy group for the homeless, will discuss her documentary, My Own Four Walls, when she visits Skidmore College at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20. Free and open to the public, the event will be in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall.

My Own Four Walls depicts a journey totaling 20,000 miles over 34 states, talking with the homeless.

In July 2005 Nilan created Hear Us, a nonprofit organization to give voice and visibility to homeless children, youth, and families. In November of that year, having sold her house, car, and most of her possessions, Nilan purchased an RV and set out on an extraordinary venture: to create a documentary featuring children talking about their homelessness. By the end of June 2006 she had logged more than 20,000 miles through 34 states, conducted more than 75 interviews, and connected with a like-minded producer/partner, Laura Vazquez, a media professor at Northern Illinois University, to shape the encounters into a series of short documentaries titled My Own Four Walls. The video is now being distributed nationally, targeting school districts responsible for identifying and assisting homeless students, as well as the general public.

Nilan?s 21 years of experience with homelessness includes running massive emergency shelters in Joliet and Aurora, Ill. In the spring of 1994 she and her associates succeeded in guiding passage of an Illinois law to guarantee homes students educational rights, the first law of its kind in the country.

Nilan guided compliance with the law in Illinois, frequently intervening with homeless families across the state as they encountered enrollment problems. She addressed myriad groups of educators, shelter staff, and community leaders, outlining how this law could help schools and homeless students alike.

Her Skidmore visit is sponsored by Benef-Action, the student community service program.