Encountering others on the streets of DC: Ted Henson at TEDxFoggyBottom

Through his experience as the co-founder of Street Sense, Ted Henson shows us how to empower the voiceless of our community.

Ted Henson is the co-founder of Street Sense, Washington DC's nonprofit newspaper for people experiencing homelessness. In 2003, Ted left a graduate program at the University of Missouri's School of Journalism's to move to Washington, DC, to work with the National Coalition for the Homeless to launch a "street newspaper" in the nation's capital. Street newspapers have been around since the 1980's and are written, produced, and sold largely by people experiencing homelessness. Ted partnered with journalist Laura Thompson, from the American Banker newspaper, and the duo quickly mobilized a core group of volunteer writers and people experiencing homelessness to write, produce, and sell Street Sense. The first issue was released in November 2003. By 2005, Street Sense was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Ted served on the Board of Directors until 2010 and served as chair of the Board from 2007 - 2009. He left D.C. in 2010 to complete a Master of Science at the Harvard School of Public Health. At Harvard, Ted was an Albert Schweitzer Fellow, a Leopold Schepp Scholar, and a recipient of the Foster G. McGaw Graduate Student Fellowship. Ted, his wife, and 1 year old son currently reside in Boston where he is involved in several projects related to community health, public health, and journalism.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)