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00000181-fa79-da89-a38d-fb7f2b910000KUOW is joining forces with other Seattle media outlets to highlight the homeless crisis in the city and region on Wednesday, June 29, 2017.The effort was modeled after a collaboration by more than 70 San Francisco outlets to focus a day of news attention on the issue and possible solutions.Read more about the Seattle project and check out our coverage below. Follow the city's coverage by using #SeaHomeless.HighlightsThe Jungle: an ongoing coverage project going into the notorious homeless encampment under Interstate 5.Ask Seattle's Homeless Community: KUOW is launching a Facebook group where anyone may ask a question about homelessness, but only people who have experienced it may answer. This was inspired by a recent event KUOW co-presented with Seattle Public Library and Real Change, where residents of the Jungle answered audience questions. No End In Sight: an award-winning investigative project from KUOW about King County's 10-year plan to end homelessness.

PHOTOS: One night on Seattle's prostitution strip

Ericka, then 36, stands outside a motel on Aurora Avenue North in Seattle in 2015. The motel has since been torn down.
KUOW Photo/Mike Kane
Ericka Frodsham, 36, stands outside a motel on Aurora Avenue North in Seattle. She is homeless, living out of motel rooms.

Earlier this month, when photographer Mike Kanewent looking for a Seattle woman to share her story of being a prostitute on Aurora Avenue North, he heard about Ericka Frodsham.

She was ready to tell her story, someone told Kane. She didn't have a phone, so she would have to call him. On the day they were supposed to meet, Frodsham, 36, had a run-in with police. She was devastated, worried she would miss him. 

But she made the appointment, and she showed Kane around Aurora. She also told him her story.

She had troubles as a young woman, she said, but she cleaned up and went to school. She became a nurse and had three kids. 

Read the Local Wonder story: Why Is There So Much Prostitution On Aurora Avenue?

But she tired of the clean life, she said, and then she was fired for stealing pharmaceutical drugs. She lost custody of her daughters.  

Frodsham has had pimps before, she told Kane, but she's currently working alone. She lives in motels, earning enough during the day to pay for a night. She still uses drugs. 

Below are the photos Kane took that night. 

[asset-images[{"caption": "Ericka Frodsham, 36, gets ready on a recent night to walk Aurora Avenue North at the Aurora Commons. Frodsham is a long-time drug user and prostitute who lives and works on Aurora between North 86th and North 97th streets. Aurora Commons is a drop-in facility for the homeless.", "fid": "122916", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201512/aurora_prostitution_MK_06.JPG", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Mike Kane"}]]

[asset-images[{"caption": "Frodsham, a former nurse, works on Aurora, north of North 85th Street. Aurora is one of two tracks for prostitution in the Seattle area -- the other is Pacific Highway South, where pimps sell young girls for sex.", "fid": "123024", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201512/aurora_prostitution_MK_20.JPG", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Mike Kane"}]]

  

[asset-images[{"caption": "Frodsham uses a window at the Aurora Commons, a drop-in center for homeless people.", "fid": "123025", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201512/aurora_prostitution_MK_02.JPG", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Mike Kane"}]]

  

[asset-images[{"caption": "Frodsham prepares for a night on Aurora. Frodsham works alone, which means she does not have a pimp. That allowed her to participate in this photo essay.", "fid": "122917", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201512/zaurora_prostitution_MK_05.JPG", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Mike Kane"}]][asset-images[{"caption": "Condoms, cigarettes and gum clutter Frodsham's purse. Frodsham left prostitution years ago and became a nurse. But she said she became bored and returned to the streets. She lost custody of her children.", "fid": "123026", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201512/aurora_prostitution_MK_10_0.JPG", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Mike Kane"}]]  

[asset-images[{"caption": "Frodsham stashes a plastic bag filled with her belongings in a friend's van. Many of the women who work this track hide their belongings because they are homeless. But stashing her stuff isn't always a sure bet. Her bags have been stolen multiple times.", "fid": "123030", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201512/zaurora_prostitution_MK_03_0_0.JPG", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Mike Kane"}]]  

[asset-images[{"caption": "The day Frodsham was supposed to meet with photographer Mike Kane, she had been arrested and booked at the King County Jail. She was released in time to make her appointment.", "fid": "122934", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201512/aurora_prostitution_MK_13.JPG", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Mike Kane"}]]  

[asset-images[{"caption": "Frodsham is one of 50 to 60 prostitutes who work on Aurora Avenue North, known as a track. This is one of two tracks where prostitutes work in the Seattle area.", "fid": "123022", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201512/aurora_prostitution_MK_21_0.JPG", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Mike Kane"}]]  

[asset-images[{"caption": "Aurora Avenue North is known as Seattle's cheaper, more desperate track. Many of the women who work here are addicted to heroin.", "fid": "123027", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201512/aurora_prostitution_MK_09_0.JPG", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Mike Kane"}]]  

[asset-images[{"caption": "A motel room on Aurora. Many of the prostitutes on Aurora Avenue North are addicts, and many have pimps who control their every move. Those without pimps are often homeless and struggle to pay for a night at a cheap motel.", "fid": "122929", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201512/aurora_prostitution_MK_08.JPG", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Mike Kane"}]]  

[asset-images[{"caption": "Women charge between $20 and $40 a trick, although when times are tough, they charge as little as $5. Men haggle on Aurora because they know the women are desperate.", "fid": "123028", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201512/aurora_prostitution_MK_12_0.JPG", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Mike Kane"}]]