on our radar
FEBRUARY 2010
Harmonic
Humanity
A Melody That’s Working for the Homeless
by P. Ellarose Ellinghausen
I
see them standing in front of the grocery
store and on the highway entrances. And
chances are, you see them too if you live
in any major U.S. city. They are our nation’s
homeless. Over the last 20 years, homeless-
ness has increased significantly in the U.S. On
any given night, 750,000 men, women, and
children are homeless, many of them veterans,
most of them unemployed, some of them with
families. Connecting this population to self-
expression and creative ways to make income
has been a challenge over the years.
Although some progress has been made
across the United States through government-
subsidized, low-cost housing; residential
health care; and substance-abuse programs,
there is room for more improvement. One so-
lution is to help the homeless create income
for themselves. The question is how.
Local street newspapers such as Real Change
in Seattle and The Street Sheet in San Francisco
operate in many U.S. cities, offering a product
that homeless vendors find self-expression
in and sell on the street to create income for
themselves. San Francisco has had a street
newspaper for 20 years now. Vendors buy the
paper for 35 cents and sell it for $1, keeping
the profit.
14  FEBRUARY 2010
The newest addition to the support of the homeless in Seattle and
San Francisco uses the same structure but adds a profit potential
10 times that of the papers, creating a win-win for the street news-
papers and the vendors. Al Barber, aka Alchemy Jah Lovewins, of
Harmonic Humanity produced Healing Harmonies, a CD for the
vendors to sell. This collection of conscious music donated by local
musicians (pros and homeless) is purchased by vendors for $2 and
resold on the street for $10, giving them an opportunity to create
more income, helping them to move toward a more stable life — one
in which they do not have to move every night in search of a safe
space to sleep.
The director of The Coalition on Homelessness’ Street Sheet, Bob
Offer-Westort says: “The generosity and ingenuity behind what these
guys do are amazing. We are lucky that they’ve been so devoted to
this project and have been able to provide Street Sheet vendors with
another opportunity. And it’s not just any old opportunity: They put
out there in another format a big part of what we try to do with
Street Sheet — they get homeless people’s voices heard.”
Lovewins was moved to create Harmonic Humanity by his experi-
ence living on the streets of San Francisco. In 2001 he found himself
in a drug-induced haze that led to two years on the streets.
“I didn’t see it coming. I thought I was in control. Then I lost it all.
My life in the fast lane was risky, and I met up with the consequenc-
es. It was the hardest couple years of my life. I came to know what
it feels like to be detached from humanity and my own sanity, said
Lovewins.
The ex-screenwriter, musician, and actor spent the next five years
getting clean and diving into healing spiritual practices. He started a
photos: courtesy Harmonic Humanity

music program at a local soup kitchen, reach-
ing out to bring musicians to perform during
the weekly meals.
Joseph Jacques, a transformational activ-
ist from the San Francisco area and longtime
friend of Lovewins, had watched his friend go
through the changes over the years. Jacques
became an instrumental ally in Lovewins’ re-
turn to a sustainable and balanced life.
“I studied all the great transformational he-
roes of our time, and I knew I could share my
knowledge to help my friend rebuild his life,”
says Jacques about his friend.
After completing workshops at Landmark
Education in 2008, Lovewins and Jacques
embarked on their mission to produce the
first compilation CD of original songs by tal-
ented, conscious musicians (with and without
homes) who wanted to make a difference. The
team’s intention was to distribute the CDs to
homeless individuals so they could sell them
and keep the profit.
The first stop was the Real Change news-
16  FEBRUARY 2010
paper in Seattle, a street paper that homeless
individuals buy to sell, with insights about life
for low-income people. “We knew the paper
had relationships with the demographic we
wanted to reach and would support our vision
of trying to get our music CDs to them,” said
Lovewins.
The experimental project in Seattle was a
runaway success, helping Seattle vendors raise
$40,000 in the first two months of the pro-
gram. With positive results in hand, the two
social artists recently launched the concept in
San Francisco, joining Street Sheet, part of the
Coalition on Homelessness in the Bay Area, to
reach the hundreds of homeless vendors the
paper and organization serve. Weekly, you
can find the two artists on the rough edge of
Downtown San Francisco’s Tenderloin district
at the office of the Coalition for Homelessness
working with vendors of the Street Sheet.
“Our hope is that San Francisco will support
us, like Seattle did, in this effort to raise con-
sciousness and provide the poor with a legit,
real avenue to rise up,” says Jacques. “Our goal
is to bring the social healers and social art-
ists together to make a difference in the world
where it’s needed. Harmonic Humanity aims
to be a long-term catalyst for that vision that
supports unity in diversity.”
Although initially slow to get started, the
program is working: Vendors are given two
CDs for free, and then some coaching on how
to sell this new “free speech/song” concept.
Then they are invited to return to purchase
more CDs.
These days, weather permitting, you will find
72-years-young Harvey Jackson at the corner
of Mission and New Montgomery streets in
San Francisco. As a Street Sheet vendor for 10
years, Jackson says, “I personally listened to
this Harmonic Humanity CD, and I really en-
joy it. Some people that I have talked to are re-
ally enthused over just the title alone. I find the
music has a very powerful message. The CDs
are selling very well for me.”
Currently, Harmonic Humanity sees about
40 percent of the San Francisco vendors re-
turning to take advantage of this innovative
model.
“Our hope is that this project will take off in
other cities across the nation,” says Lovewins.
“We are also planning to create an alliance of
musicians worldwide called Harmonic Hu-
manity Rock Star Alliance, with high-profile
rock stars and emerging music artists, to ex-
pand awareness about the potential of music in
healing the world via humanitarian projects.”
Beyond building the relationships with the
street newspapers and encouraging CD sales
with vendors, Lovewins is developing other
To find out how you can
purchase the CD, contribute,
and volunteer, contact
harmonic humanity at their
website, harmonichumanity.org.
For more information about
the Coalition of the homeless
and Street Sheet, visit
http://cohsf.org.
projects. Harmonic Humanity is in discus-
sions with Samantha Sweetwater of Dancing
Freedom to create another compilation CD to
educate people and raise funds for The State
of the World Forum 2020 Climate Leadership
Campaign.
Santa Rosa Harmony Festival organizer
Sean Ahearn is also resonating with the vi-
sion of humanitarian outreach projects being
spearheaded in the music world.
“I love what Harmonic Humanity is doing,
utilizing the power of music to inspire hope
and healing and provide a new economic mod-
el to empower individuals. This represents an
amazing opportunity to take the concept of
street team outreach and microfinance to a
whole new level. Imagine the power of em-
powered individuals on the streets collaborat-
ing with a sense of purpose on common goals
that have day-to-day economic impact.”
Harmonic Humanity is also developing a
42-day follow-along journal titled The Hero’s
Game Book, inspired by Jacques’ work in the
transformation world. The Hero’s Game Book’s
goal is to help homeless individuals to create a
new story and a new perspective for change in
their lives. The journal is inspired by Abound-
ing River by Matthew and Terces Engelhart
(Cafe Gratitude), Conscious Language by Rob-
ert Stevens, and The Seven Habits of Highly Ef-
fective People by Stephen Covey.
Jacques and Lovewins hope to introduce
The Hero’s Game Book this year.
P. Ellarose Ellinghausen, bigsnoot.com.