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Emerging Advocates Program: emerging and...expanding!

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Andrea Marcos, Administrative Assistant

“We must also broaden our conception of what it means to be creative. At its best, one of the most creative activities is being involved in a struggle with other people, breaking out of our isolation, seeing our relations with others change, discovering new dimensions in our lives."

-Sylvia Federici

The summer is a creative time for us at the Housing Alliance. But this summer it’s triple time, as we get ready for not one, but three sessions of our Emerging Advocates Program (EAP)!

Over the last few weeks we’ve been working hard getting ready for our second-ever EAP, a curriculum that supports people who have experienced homelessness or housing instability in advocating for positive policy change. Last fall, we had fourteen passionate program participants graduate from our first-ever class. This year, we received more than double the applications, and we’ve decided to not only run two summer programs instead of one, but also a offer a short session in Yakima later this fall!

The 2014 summer EAP sessions will include 26 participants coming from all over Washington State. Folks from the Puget Sound area hail from Snohomish, King, Pierce, and Thurston counties. Other participants from the eastern side of the mountains come from Longview, Yakima, and Spokane. Our six-week program will include topics like the history of how U.S. policy has affected homelessness, the importance of voter engagement, using social and traditional media for advocacy, storytelling for social change, and so much more!

We have a great line-up of workshops and presentations from past EAP participants and advocates, including Nancy Amidei from Civic Engagement Project and Paul Boden from Western Regional Advocacy Project. Our own Housing Alliance staff will also present, including Rachael Myers, Kate Baber, and Joaquin Uy. Brianna Thomas from our sister organization the Washington Housing Alliance Action Fund will also be on-hand to talk about the importance of field work in electing housing champions to the state legislature.

For our third EAP program of 2014, we’ll head to Yakima and present a shortened version to advocates there. We’re really excited about making sure the program gets all over Washington State. And we’re especially looking forward to working with our allies on the East Side! More about the Yakima Emerging Advocates Program later. 

We have some great workshops and presenters lined up. But I don’t think it’s only the workshops that make the Emerging Advocates Program such a meaningful advocacy training opportunity. It’s what activist, scholar, and teacher Syvlia Federici  is talking about in that quote above – a transformative creativity. EAP is so important and unique because it is about being in spaces where we come together, work together, and struggle together, a struggle to ensure everyone in Washington State has the opportunity to live in safe, healthy, affordable homes in thriving communities. Since our first round of EAP, I’ve heard back from participants. All felt that the relationships and continuing support networks made in the program are just as meaningful as the curriculum. The program is strong because of the solid creativity that we as advocates bring to it and share with each other. I’m excited to see that quality of creativity play a more active role in the Housing Alliance’s work and in our collective movements for housing justice.

Top image: EAP 2013 participant Glenda Miller giving her final presentation to her fellow attendees.
Bottom image: EAP 2013 participant Ellie Lambert showing a prop from her final project, focused on raising awareness of homelessness in Yakima.

 

 

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