On the June 20th episode of “America’s Got Talent,” a group called the Freedom Singers brought the house down with what Howie Mandel called “more than” just an audition and something that was actually “needed.”

The eight singers forming the group hail from “Skid Row,” a 54-block neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles known for having one of the largest communities of unhoused people in the country.These core members, formerly unhoused themselves, came together in the Arts and Culture department at the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN), an organization dedicated to helping individuals in Skid Row and beyond.

“Skid Row is in the heart of downtown Los Angeles where five people per day die on the streets, houseless people. So, for us, Freedom Singing brings us close together; it is that medium that we’ve always used to come together as America,” one of the male singers explained.

One of the female singers described her and her mother’s “traumatizing” experience of being unhoused on Skid Row, having all of her personal belongings being taken away by city officials and “being left with nothing.” Finding the Freedom Singers and LA CAN became the “blessing” that helped her rebuild.

The founder of the group, Micayla De Ette, then told judges that the Freedom Singers represent not only those who are unhoused, but also those who are in transitional housing and those who have lost people on the streets.

Continue reading (via Upworthy.com)