The Front Steps Project - How Communities Found Connection During the COVID-19 Crisis

"Curated from the grassroots social movement of the same name, this inspiring, uplifting portrait series documents how people coped with living in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Front Steps Project demonstrates that even in the most challenging of circumstances, incredible kindness, love, courage and hope exists to build, bind, and connect communities around the globe. Created on March 18, 2020, The Front Steps Project began when friends Kristen Collins and Cara Soulia chose to unite their neighbors through images of life in quarantine. Along with other local photographers, they committed to take a few hours each day to go to neighborhoods around Needham, Massachusetts to photograph residents in front of their homes in exchange for donations to their local food pantry. Within days, #TheFrontStepsProject became a grassroots social mission, connecting thousands of people across the globe and currently raising over $3,250,000 for vital non-profit organizations and local businesses including food pantries, frontline workers, homeless and animal shelters, hospitals and more. Hundreds of thousands of images and stories of love, sacrifice, joy, compassion, kindness, pride, perseverance, and - ultimately hope - are flooding social media"--Publisher's description.

About the author

Kristen Collins is a self-described "coffee-moment idea" machine, nonstop chatterbox, and professional volunteer. She has spent over 25 years in communications, always uncovering compelling stories, people, products, and missions, then finding ways to bring them attention through media coverage, marketing programs, community engagement, and more.

Kristen is the cofounder of The Front Steps Project, a global social movement that has raised $3.25 million dollars by photographing families in isolation during COVID-19 in exchange for donations to non-profit organizations and local businesses. She lives in Needham, Massachusetts with her husband and two children.

Summary

People magazine's top reason for Hope in America.
Curated from a grassroots social movement, The Front Steps Project is an inspiring, uplifting portrait series capturing how people coped with living in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Front Steps Project™ demonstrates that even in the most challenging of circumstances, kindness, love, courage, and hope exist to build, bind, and connect communities around the globe.
Created on March 18, 2020, The Front Steps Project™ began when friends Kristen Collins and Cara Soulia sought out to unite their neighbors through photographs of life in quarantine. In addition to incorporating work from other local photographers, the women traveled to neighborhoods around Needham, Massachusetts to photograph residents in front of their homes in exchange for donations to their local food pantry.
Within days, #TheFrontStepsProject became a grassroots social mission, connecting thousands of people across the globe and raising over $3,250,000 for vital non-profit organizations and local businesses including food pantries, frontline workers, homeless and animal shelters, hospitals and so much more. Through their noble efforts, hundreds of thousands of images and stories of love, sacrifice, compassion, kindness, perseverance, and – ultimately hope – flooded social media.
Featured on Good Morning America, The Today Show, People Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe and more, The Front Steps Project brings communities together virtually, despite being – and maybe feeling – isolated.
The Front Steps Project contains over 400 photographs and dozens of stories of families during the COVID-19 pandemic. This heartwarming keepsake commemorates a massive effort of courage, unity, and goodwill.
As a tribute to the good work of The Front Steps Project, a portion of book sales will be donated to The United Way to help people impacted by the pandemic.

Foreword

BLURBS: Targeted blurbs from relevant thought-leaders.

EVENTS: Online author slideshows and photographer events in coordination with Indie stores across the US.

ONLINE: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn promotions to target audiences.
PROMOTION: LibraryThing, Goodreads, Indie Advance Access giveaways.

REVIEWS: Features and mentions in major media that have covered the story as well as reviews in trade, social/political, women’s/family, photography, and regional.

TRADESHOWS: Features at CALIBA, PNBA, NEIBA and MPIBA conferences.

Additional text

"Send Joy During a Stressful Year With a Holiday Card: For Ms. Staten, that meant purchasing red masks (she hot-glued white fuzzy Santa trim to her husband’s) and enlisting a local photographer to capture her family of five from 10 feet away. Even that style of portraiture is a cultural outcrop of the pandemic: The photographer, Rachna Agrawal, first photographed the Statens for the Front Steps Project, for which photographers around the world captured socially distanced images of families as a way to raise funds for local nonprofits and small businesses."

Product details

• Authors: Kristen Collins, Collins Kristen, Cara Soulia
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 24.11.2020
• EAN: 9781513265858
• ISBN: 978-1-5132-6585-8
• Illustrations: Full-color photographs
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Photography, film, video, TV; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Policy, PHOTOGRAPHY / Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions / General, Photography: portraits & self-portraiture