The street newspaper, One Step Away is published, produced and distributed by people experiencing homelessness. Often found in each issue, available for a one dollar donation, are inspirational true stories about people experiencing homelessness.
This month, One Step Away profiles Eagles defensive tackle Antonio Dixon, who grew up in homeless shelters in Florida and overcame numerous obstacles to earn a college degree and promising career in the NFL:
“Homeless hero Dixon tackled own hard times”
By Claudell Edwards
Antonio Dixon doesn’t seem entirely comfortable with the idea that he’s an inspiration to people and a role model.
“I may be looked at that way,” said Dixon, an Eagles defensive tackle. “I don’t know. But I think people can look at the adversity I’ve had, and I hope they think that if I can do it, anyone can do it.”
That may not be entirely true. Not just anyone can overcome the adversity Dixon had in his life. He grew up in homeless shelters and foster homes. His father was in federal prison. He had a severe stutter and suffered from dyslexia. Between his learning disability and bouncing from school to school as his family shuttled in and out of homelessness, he didn’t learn to read as a child.
But Dixon overcame those obstacles. He is way too determined to let those things hold him back. Though he didn’t play football until the ninth grade, Dixon earned a scholarship to the University of Miami, graduating in four years against all odds with a degree in liberal arts (the first person in his family to graduate college) and became one of six NCAA athletes to win the 2009 Wilma Rudolph Award for persistence in overcoming hurdles and achieving on and off the field.
Antonio Dixon overcame homelessness as a child, overcame a learning disability, overcame a difficult childhood full of the kinds of stories most people can’t imagine – but stories homeless people know all too well.
He is an inspiration, and he is a role model. And to the homeless? He’s a hero …
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Read the rest of Claudell’s interview with Antonio Dixon in the August issue of One Step Away, which is sold through Philadelphia. For more information, please contact Chloe Johnson at Resources for Human Development at chloe@rhd.org.
Also in this issue:
- One Step Away covers the National Conference on Ending Homelessness in Washington D.C.
- Matthew Saad Muhammad reunites with his family after One Step Away writes about his latest comeback, this time from a homeless shelter
- Ageless issue: Children in Philadelphia homeless shelters Plus poetry, uncovered issues, cartoons and more!
One Step Away is distributed on the streets of Philadelphia by the homeless. It is the first street newspaper in Philadelphia history, and the only street paper in North America in which the content is produced almost entirely by the men, women and children in the city’s shelters.
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