Formerly Homeless Artist Using Creativity to Empower the Community!

NYC’s popular Jiva Mukti Yoga Center, located in Union Square, is currently featuring the photographic work of Lyssette Horne. The exhibit, “Light in All of Us,” celebrates diversity and the potential to cultivate love, creativity, energy, and acceptance.

“The opportunity to show my work at Jiva Mukti is incredible. So many New Yorkers pass through the studio. My wish is that everyone who sees these photos will be able to take something from them. Hopefully the exhibit will make a meaningful impact and invite viewers to see the world a little differently,” says Horne.

Horne seeks to illuminate the universal experience through her photography. Many of her subjects are, like herself, formerly homeless youth who have gone on to embrace their talents, dreams, and aspirations and thus transform their circumstances. Horne re-imagines these people as Indian deities, inviting the viewer to recognize what she sees as the essential goodness and boundless potential of every human being. She challenges her viewers to extend compassion to all people with whom they interact in their daily lives, especially those so often overlooked by society.

About the Artist:

Lyssette Horne is a formerly homeless youth, artist, poet, photographer, social activist and vegan chef who uses her experiences and creativity to empower people and communities. Her photography and activism have been featured in Yoga Journal, Yoga+ Magazine, and Gay City News. Her story has been featured in “In Your Shoes,” a documentary film that was named an official selection for the 2009 New York Independent Film and Video Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival. Horne is a founder of Border Line Arts Collective, an organization that uses new media to empower gay and lesbian artists. She also serves as a mentor to homeless youth at the Reciprocity Foundation, a program from which she graduated in 2007.
Written by Sarah Autumn Feeley

Another World is Possible!

On the sixteenth floor of a lower Manhattan office building, in a rectangular room, on a tangerine wall, next to a gleaming white door, hangs a poster-sized piece of paper. Hand written in navy blue marker is the following quote: “Not only is another world possible, She is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing. -Arundhati Roy”

While few days in New York City-not even this relatively calm and overcast March morning-can be described as quiet, in this room, the small headquarters of the Reciprocity Foundation, you can still hear the breath of change. It is on the lips and in the words of Adam Bucko.

Bucko, 33, is one of the co-founders of the Reciprocity Foundation. It is an organization aimed at providing homeless and high risk youth with skills to not only exit the social service system, but also find careers in what he calls the Creative Industries—fields like new media, social entrepreneurship, design, marketing, and green economy.

“Our goal was not to just help them to become successful,” Bucko says in an even tempo, words tinged with a Polish accent, “but to turn them into change makers so they can go back to the shelters, the neighborhoods, mentor other kids, and create opportunities for their whole community.”

The kids he speaks about is a diverse group of young adults, ranging in age from barely teens to early twenties. The majority of students are of color and are LGBTQ, a reflection of the homeless youth demographic in New York City. This year, Bucko says, the foundation has worked with over 300 kids.

According to recent data released by New York City, 36,000 people sleep in shelters each night-16,000 of which are children. Thousands more are sleep on the streets, in the subway, or other public places. These figures are the highest in the city’s history.

By these statistics, it would be hard for any organization to measure success by the amount of youth reached. Instead, the foundation measures success by what it can help the youth accomplish. Students of the Reciprocity Foundation have moved on to colleges like Parsons and Babson. They have earned internships and jobs at Fortune 500 companies. Their most recognizable, a transgender model named Isis, reached fame through the television show “America’s Next Top Model.”

“I would say that a lot of our students have had life changing experiences with an organization within our community,” Bucko says. “To me, that’s what success is all about.”

Click here for slideshow.


Text and Photos by Collin Orcutt

GREEN FASHION by homeless designers!

What if someday being decked from head to toe in the latest trends and carrying around a copy of Vogue could send a message to the world that you are green, sustainable, sweatshop free and committed to helping your community?

Fashion gets criticized for being superficial, but people like Lauren Hope Silverstein see the potential it has to be anything but.

Silverstein, who designs for a leading fashion house, recently met with Reciprocity students to discuss green fashion and design.

The general feeling in the room was that while we all want to give back and carefully use our precious natural resources, nobody wants to sacrifice on style, and nobody has to.

For young, homeless designers, this conversation was particularly important. Having experienced so much difficulty, these youth know that in order to feel good about their contributions, they want their work to tell their stories and help others.

The reassurance that designing the perfect pair of jeans has the possibility to send a positive message of awareness and change, and keep the planet healthy, further inspired these already motivated young adults.

Reciprocity has been offering training in green and socially responsible start-ups since 2004, long before the trend truly took off, but as Terry Swack of Sustainable Minds pointed out "the challenge is the lack of accessible, easy to use information that design teams can integrate into their processes to design greener products."

Reciprocity is helping to bridge that gap, and by asking practical questions, Reciprocity students are pushing industry professionals to articulate just how we can all work together to make this trend the standard.

Silverstein, for example, is offering students guidance on portfolios, and recently led a Reciprocity project that resulted in the creation of a chic, eye-catching, green, organic, sweatshop-free tote bag, sales of which benefit programming for homeless youth. Now that is one multi-tasking accessory!
Written by Sarah Autumn Feeley

Founders of the Reciprocity Foundation named "Heroes of the Week"

Reciprocity Foundation founders Taz Tagore and Adam Bucko were recently named "Heroes of the Week" by Shine Global, a non-profit dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of children. Shine Global is internationally renowned for its groundbreaking media and film advocacy work on behalf of children. Among many of their distinguished projects is the film War/Dance, that was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

To read the "Heroes of the Week" profile go to http://www.shineglobal.org/?cat=12

Photograph by Peter Turnley

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT - Sparlha Swa

Sparlha Swa is an internationally touring alternative soul singer and songwriter. Her songs appeared on the hit shows "Girlfriends" and "BETJ". She is currently part of the new critically-acclaimed musical "Fela" In New York City.

Q: Tell us about what you do and why you volunteer at Reciprocity?
A: I'm a singer and musician who supports and partners with life-affirming, art-based projects and organizations.

Q: How are you involved with Reciprocity?
A: The fantastic folks at Reciprocity were gracious enough to invite me to give a short performance one day, just me and my guitar. I ended up swapping songs and lyrics back and forth with the kids, listening to their process of recording that summer.

Q: Can you give an example of an experience you found rewarding at Reciprocity?
A: The energy, talent, brilliance, ambition and love in the room that day was amazing. I left so inspired.

Isis raises the bar on what it means to be a model on the season premiere of ANTM

The first episode of cycle 11 of America’s Next Top Model aired, featuring Reciprocity Foundation graduate Isis. Although brimming with controversy, Isis’s performance illustrated that she had more than earned her right to be a contestant. Judge on the show, noted fashion photographer Nigel Barker echoed these sentiments – “I think with the transgender issue it’s very easy to caricature someone like Isis. But when I spoke with her the other day she really knew her light, she knew what to do. and she was smart. She’s got real emotion and feeling, and I think it is because she has lived.” The Reciprocity Foundation has worked with Isis since the fall of 2007. She has never let her bouts with adversity as a homeless youth deter her on her path.

Isis was a standout. Not because she is transgender, but rather as a talented contestant who was completely prepared for all the challenges presented. She embodied all the principles that the Reciprocity Foundation teaches in our program. She arrived with an illustration for Tyra, demonstrating her technical ability for design. She impressed Nigel in her one-on-one interview with her knowledge of the modeling industry. When contestants threw uncomfortable questions at her, she was calm under fire.

We at the Reciprocity Foundation are ecstatic about her success and are sure that her talent, dedication and perseverance will yield great results.

Reciprocity Foundation's program graduate breaks new ground as the first transgender contestant on America's Next Top Model

The Reciprocity Foundation is proud to announce that one of our recent program graduates, Isis, is a contestant on Season 11 of Tyra Banks' top rated show, America’s Next Top Model. Reciprocity partnered with ANTM during season 10, for a photo shoot aimed at educating Americans on youth homelessness. Isis was one of two transgender students whom Reciprocity selected to appear on the prime-time reality show. Reciprocity’s Executive Director, Taz Tagore said, “We wanted America to see that beauty doesn’t have any limitations.”

After appearing as a homeless youth model with other Reciprocity students Isis was invited to be a contestant on the show. She is the first transgender model selected for Tyra Banks' hit show. “Isis is a perfect example of how a person can transform their life when offered support, opportunity and coaching,” said Adam Bucko, Reciprocity’s Managing Director. He added, “Her success reaffirms the work of the Reciprocity Foundation.”