Two months ago the Guardian launched Outside in America, a groundbreaking reporting project on the country’s homelessness crisis. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and led by a full-time homelessness editor, the Guardian’s writers, photographers and film-makers have been reporting deeply on an urgent and underreported topic – but with an extra and innovative dimension.

All of us have had the experience of reading an inspiring or heart-wrenching news article and thinking, What can I do to help? With Outside in America, we are pioneering a solution. All of the journalism in our series includes an “action button” that allows our audience to take immediate, direct action after experiencing a powerful piece of journalism. Through the “action button” we hope to learn how penetrating reporting can elicit reader engagement and, ultimately, produce social change. More on that in a moment.

Homelessness is not a new issue in America, but there is a growing consensus that in many US states it is reaching levels that should not be tolerated in one of the richest countries in the world. The problem is particularly acute in the west, which is the focus of the project. California is home to one-fifth of the nation’s homeless people. Hawaii has a higher per-capita rate of homelessness than any other state. Portland and Seattle have declared a state of emergency as they would for a natural disaster.

The Guardian is the only major publication to treat homelessness as a national beat like any other. Already this approach has produced exceptional journalism, such as an investigation into the death of a homeless Portland woman who froze to death in a parking garage, and an exploration of the ethics of the tiny-house movement. Readers have had a strong response to stories that highlight the inequality in the region’s richest communities – for instance, those about the homeless encampments in the shadow of Facebook’s Silicon Valley campus and the stark divisions in the Los Angeles community of Venice. And they have been exposed to unexpected aspects of homelessness, such as our film about the superhero impersonators on Hollywood Boulevard who have nowhere to sleep at night. Although Outside in America is a relatively new project, the stories have attracted well over 1 million unique visitors.

Outside in America: learn more about our ongoing homelessness project Read more

The “Action Button” on our hard-hitting journalism is the crucial extra element now in the mix. Thanks to the partnership between the Guardian and Speakable, a new technology company that facilitates civic engagement, we’re offering readers a chance to take action directly. Speakable’s button is embedded in every Outside in America story and enables readers to help alleviate homelessness in a variety of ways, for instance by donating to a nonprofit or volunteering.

Outside in America has been innovative in other areas. We have launched a monthly newsletter about homelessness. We have partnered with the newspapers sold by homeless people on street corners – such as San Francisco’s Street Sheet or Seattle’s Real Change News – and have given them permission to republish our stories, because we want our journalism to be accessible to those in the homeless community as well as about it.

We are still in the early days of this project but are heartened by the early impact of the reporting and the actions readers are taking as a result of it. In the coming year, as we build a dedicated audience and drive momentum around the issue of homelessness through our journalism and reader actions, we will share what we are learning about impact and reader engagement through the partnership between the Guardian and Speakable. We look forward to updating you as the series progresses.

White is the executive vice-president of philanthropic and strategic partnerships at Guardian News & Media; Hewson is the founder and CEO of Speakable