Early this month we launched our first Housing Justice Fellowship, in partnership with Springfield Tenants Unite. For our pilot cohort, we brought together 12 tenants with varied experiences renting in Springfield. Some have prior experience with tenant organizing, some do not, but all are committed to learning how to organize their community to win policy changes that strengthen the movement for housing justice.
Over the course of the Fellowship, they will learn about the politics of housing in Springfield and how to organize and strengthen a tenant union. Three groups have formed to focus on Base-Building, Campaign Planning, and Shaping the Narrative, each led by a Fellow. Through immersion in a community of peers committed to building equity, fellows will develop skills, identify issues and solutions in their buildings and neighborhoods, and build capacity to organize tenant power in their communities. The Fellowship will culminate with presentations on their own organizing projects. We’re excited to see what this group can accomplish in the future. Please join us in congratulating and welcoming our first Housing Justice Fellowship cohort:
2023-2024 Housing Justice Fellows
Alice Barber (Fellowship Project Lead)
Sarah Barnts
Deanna Bergren
Johnathan Byrd (Fellowship Project Lead)
Adam Edwards
Ashley McCormick
Samson Newman
Correna Rose-King
Devin Strayhorn
Kai Sutton
Sarah Uselton
Rex Ybañez (Fellowship Project Lead)
You can learn more about why we’re investing in tenant leadership from our Affordable Housing Policy Manager, Vee Sanchez, here and here.
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Are there any plans to create such an organization in St. Louis city?
Hi James, thanks for reaching out!
At this time, we do not have any plans to expand a housing justice fellowship program in STL simply because there are already several other really great organizations already doing powerful organizing in STL already – with that being said, we would be thrilled for you to join us during our monthly statewide Affordable Housing Coalition calls that occur every 4th Friday of each month – you can get the zoom links by signing up here: http://www.empowermissouri.org/policy-priorities/affordable-housing/
The STL organizations that are actively organizing tenants in STL include: Homes for All STL https://www.facebook.com/h4astl/ and Action STL https://actionstl.org/housing-justice
I’m being taken to court Thursday for failing to pay rent for a couple months because I lost my job. I’m seeking help so I’m not homeless