2025 Award Recipient
BellaBrown
Project Living Outside
Project Living Outside
Bella is the co-founder of Living Outside, an organization dedicated to providing aid and support to unhoused people while destigmatizing homelessness among teens.
Bella discovered as a teen that her uncle was unhoused, and it fundamentally changed her conception of homelessness. She began filling care bags with necessities and handing them to unhoused people she encountered in Chicago. Many engaged her in conversation, sharing stories of resilience, hardship, and need. In 2021, Bella and her sister launched Living Outside to expand the reach of their efforts and shed the stigma of homelessness among their peers.
Living Outside engages a network of teen volunteers to create and deliver care bags full of everyday necessities and personal items requested by the recipients themselves. More than distributing aid, volunteers connect with unhoused people to ensure they feel dignified and respected. To this end, each care bag includes items for recipients to redistribute, so they can share in the empowerment and uplifting spirit of tikkun olam.
Living Outside has grown to 20 chapters globally, each led by a high school student. Collectively, thousands of care bags have been distributed by hundreds of active volunteers.
A nonprofit organization that supports unhoused people through direct aid and conversation, and works to destigmatize homelessness among youth and teens.
