Welcome Home’s advocacy trainings are guided by our vision of a future of housing options that meet the real needs of people in our region and policies that work to eliminate inequities in race and class in housing outcomes. To do this work, we know that it is essential to uplift the voices of those most affected by harmful housing policies. We also recognize that policy advocacy is time intensive and often inaccessible for many people. Currently, we offer a four-session advocacy training program for cohorts of individuals with lived experience. The program offers basic education about housing policy in our region, the importance of storytelling for advocacy, and practice crafting personal stories. The goal of the program is to empower people who want to see more accessible and affordable housing in our region. The training aspires to enable people to tell their housing stories from a place of confidence.

Listen below to Calvin tell his story on PSU’s Understanding Homelessness podcast:

In order to acknowledge the time and expertise that advocates bring to these trainings, we pay each participant and provide food. We also provide childcare and transportation assistance, if needed. There is no cost to organizations for hosting our advocacy trainings.

Our Regional Organizer partners with housing and direct service organizations along with communities of advocates to host our trainings. Trainings are organized into cohorts that reflect shared life experiences. You do not need to be a member of our coalition to host a training as we are always excited to meet with new partners also passionate about housing justice!

Email us! There is no cohort too small and all experiences are valid. We must use our collective power to ensure the public and policymakers invest in policies that fund and enable access to housing options that meet the real needs of people in our region!