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

People magazine's top reason for Hope in America. 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. 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. This heartwarming keepsake commemorates a massive effort of unity, courage and commitment to community goodwill in gift book form with over 400 photographs and dozens of stories. Participating photographers as well as their subjects from across the United States, Canada and beyond share how the virus has impacted their lives with both heartache and triumph. As a tribute to the good work of The Front Steps Project and to keep paying it forward, a portion of proceeds from the sale of the book will go to The United Way and their own efforts to help people impacted by the pandemic.