Speak Up!: Developing Voice and the Power of Lived Experience

Affordable housing and homelessness

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Amid growing public pressure to address homelessness in LA, Speak Up! has helped the sector understand the need to center lived experience in systems change work.
As part of our commitment to transparency, CSH requested feedback on Speak Up! from members of the Tenant Knowledge Exchange (TKE), a community of Speak Up! alumni. They shared a powerful truth:
Those who have survived homelessness and are thriving challenge the dominant narrative surrounding homelessness in LA.
Their vision is for Speak Up! to focus on wellness and build Advocates’ capacity to engage in advocacy, transform society’s views on homelessness, and pursue their personal goals. In response, we worked together to refine Speak Up!, infusing a trauma-informed framework into the curriculum. While advocacy will remain crucial to Speak Up!, this new iteration will serve as a powerful conduit for healing and growth, empowering Advocates to develop their voice, build their networks, and identify and pursue their goals.

CSH will leverage the proposed grant to deliver Speak Up Cohort #14. This will be the first Speak Up! cohort to go through the refined Speak Up! curriculum, which is centered on supporting individuals with lived experience of homelessness participating in Speak Up! (“Advocates”) to build the skills, confidence, and connections to achieve their advocacy and personal goals.
As detailed under “Timeline” below, Speak Up! and mentor recruitment will begin in July 2025, with the program scheduled to launch in October 2025. Over the course of the one-year grant:
CSH will deliver an orientation session for Speak Up! Advocates and mentors.
CSH will deliver eight training sessions focused on: Developing Your Voice; Structural Competency; Advocacy 101; and Wellness.
Over four weeks, mentors will provide Advocates with guidance around the planning, development, execution, and presentation of a story project. Advocates will develop their story as a written, art, or performance piece, or in another medium of their choice.
CSH will host a showcase event celebrating Speak Up! Advocates, where they present their story project, centered around strength and hope, in a community setting with their fellow Advocates, mentors, family, friends, sector partners, and other community members and network connections that can help them achieve their advocacy and personal goals.
CSH will gather feedback from Advocates and mentors and refine the program, as needed, for future cohorts.

The intended impact of Speak Up! is threefold:
1) We successfully demonstrate to systems change partners that lived experience voice is essential to countering the myth-laden stereotypes that have girded apathy and challenged development in LA County.
2) Advocates build the public speaking skills, confidence, and community to engage in advocacy with policymakers and the public.
3) With Speak Up!’s increased focus on wellness and trauma-informed care, Advocates feel supported and empowered to pursue their personal and professional goals.
Speak Up! supports individuals with lived experience to serve in decision-making roles in LA’s effort to end homelessness. Lived experience voice is key to changing the narrative from one characterized as an intractable issue to a solvable one. An individual’s personal story of their path out of homelessness is powerful evidence for concrete solutions like affordable housing and services. Our goal is to replicate Speak Up! in communities across the U.S.