Opportunity Starts at Home Opportunity Starts at Home

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Stefan Lallinger and Sam Adams about why education advocates must concern themselves with matters of housing policy. Dr. Lallinger is a Fellow at the Century Foundation and Director of the Bridges Collaborative, focused on issues of racial and socioeconomic integration, equity, school governance, and district-charter relationships. Sam Adams is the education programs manager at the Come to Believe Foundation and ongoing contributor to the Opportunity Starts at Home campaign.

"The way that we have set up where kids go to school in this country, which is based largely on where they live, has necessitated that educators take an interest in housing policy," said Dr. Lallinger.

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The campaign continues its three-part webinar series entitled “Building Multi-Sector Partnerships to Advance Housing Policy,” with the second webinar on August 24. This webinar series explores the opportunities, challenges, and best practices of building multi-sector coalitions to advance policy, featuring speakers from leading national and state organizations from many fields of work.

The second part of the webinar series, entitled “Best Practices to Building Multi-sector Partnerships on the State Level,” featured:

Chantelle Wilkinson, National Campaign Manager, Opportunity Starts at Home

Gina Wilt, Advocacy Director, Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio

Kendra Knighten, Policy Associate, Idaho Asset Building Network

Tara Rollins, Executive Director, Utah Housing Coalition

Sharon Barker, Vice President and COO, Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey

Through the Opportunity Starts at Home campaign, leading national organizations from an array of sectors are pushing Congress to act on more robust and equitable housing policies. Even before the pandemic, America was in the grips of an affordable housing crisis, most severely impacting the most marginalized and lowest-income people. Advocates from health, education, racial equity, food security, environmental protection, economic mobility, domestic violence, social work, faith, and more are recognizing that affordable homes are inextricably linked to their own priorities and concerns. As Congress begins to discuss robust infrastructure and recovery packages, we have a historic opportunity to advance bold housing solutions. These solutions are more likely to come to fruition when multi-sector coalitions are leading the way, as opposed to housing advocates alone.

Learn more about the webinar series by signing up for the campaign's newsletter: https://www.opportunityhome.org/take-action/lets-stand-together/

Intro/Closing Song: Free Music Library, YouTube, “Clover 3”
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The Opportunity Starts at Home campaign hosted the first of a three-part webinar series, entitled “Building Multi-Sector Partnerships to Advance Housing Policy,” on May 18. The webinar featured leaders in the climate, health, and education sector discussing their participation in the campaign, the benefits and challenges of building cross-sector partnerships and engaging other advocates in their fields to advance affordable housing policy.

Speakers Included:
Nan Roman, president and CEO, National Alliance to End Homelessness

Khalil Shahyd, senior policy advisor, Equity Environment and Just Communities, Natural Resources Defense Council

Makeda Harris, senior policy analyst, National Education Association

Dr. Janna Gewirtz O'Brien, MD, FAAP, University of Minnesota, American Academy of Pediatrics

Chantelle Wilkinson, campaign manager, Opportunity Starts at Home

Over the course of three parts, this webinar series will explore the opportunities, challenges, and best practices of building multi-sector coalitions to advance policy, featuring speakers from leading national and state organizations from many fields of work.

Learn more about the webinar series by signing up for the campaign's newsletter: https://www.opportunityhome.org/take-action/lets-stand-together/

Intro/Closing Song: Free Music Library, YouTube, “Clover 3”
URL: www.youtube.com/audiolibrary

This episode explores a recent report published by Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (CLS) featuring Rasheedah Phillips, managing attorney of housing policy at CLS. Throughout the episode, Ms. Phillips discusses the report’s key findings, equitable solutions beyond the pandemic, research methods that center people with lived experience, guidance for organizations seeking to strengthen racial justice work, and using language to better capture racial inequities.

“When we look at the rate of evictions in Philadelphia and that those evicted most are Black people, we recognize that when speaking about housing instability and unaffordability we should frame these issues as race and gender issues,” says Ms. Phillips. “These issues connect back to redlining which still impacts Black communities today as we look at overall disinvestment and blight in these communities.”

Intro/Closing Song: Free Music Library, YouTube, “Clover 3”
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The episode explores the work of the campaign’s state-based affiliates in Ohio and features Gina Wilt, advocacy director at the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO).
Throughout the episode, Ms. Wilt discusses the housing crisis in Ohio, the opportunities and challenges of building multi-sector partnerships, best practices for organizations looking to build a multi-sector coalition, how COHHIO is advancing racial equity, and how COHHIO is leveraging multi-sector partnerships to advance more robust and equitable housing policies.

“I cannot underscore enough the importance of education and outreach in congressional meetings,” says Ms. Wilt. “And without having the diversity in COHHIO’s coalition partners to fully participate, I really don’t think it would be as successful.”

Intro/Closing Song: Free Music Library, YouTube, “Clover 3”
URL: www.youtube.com/audiolibrary

In this episode, we discuss the work of the Opportunity Starts at Home campaign’s Racial Equity Working Group with Peggy Bailey, Vice President of Housing Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Throughout the episode, Ms. Bailey discusses the history of racism in housing policy, the first steps when organizations embark upon racial equity work, her major reflections and takeaways, the intersectional impact of correcting racial inequities in housing policy, and the value of applying an anti-racist framework to housing justice.

“There is a true commitment to race equity work and doing better in the housing space,” said Ms. Bailey. “Policies and practices have caused racial disparities, so intentionality and courage are needed to reverse and correct them.”

Intro/Closing Song: Free Music Library, YouTube, “Clover 3”
URL: www.youtube.com/audiolibrary