shortformblog:

Meet Clarence. He was made homeless by Hurricane Katrina. In some cities, the homeless hawk newspapers as a way to raise income. With the help of the charitable arm of advertising agency BBH New York, Clarence is selling 4G wireless access at SXSW — $2 for 15 minutes. And in case you need said access to follow you while you’re doing something, he’ll follow along and even keep you company. This is cool and kinda innovative.

EDIT: As one or two folks raised concerns about the idea, we asked the Homeless Hotspots folks via Twitter what sort of response they’ve gotten. Here’s what they had to say:

Second EDIT: Please hop over here to see some more of our thoughts on this issue. Ultimately, the key thing is that this is a difficult issue, and difficult issues are prone to debate.