Speakers Bureau

Speakers bureau was created to support the RUN 2022 policy priority of ending discrimination of unhoused people. 

Speakers bureau is a group of members who have directly experienced being unhoused, and were convened to be trained on how to connect their experience, to the goal of creating a statewide policy that would add housing status as a protective status to give law practitioners legal ground to challenge discriminatory policies and practices that impact unhoused individuals and communities. 

Speakers bureau is a group of 13 leaders from the Residents United Network and Stronger Women United that are to counter the dominant narrative of stigma and dehumanization through their storytelling. 

The Speakers Bureau had their first meeting in May 2022, established their group identity, briefed on the policy goal and given a crash course on talking with press with a journalist from the ACLU. In late august to early september, they will be speaking on their first event at a webinar hosted by the ACLUs Center for Economic Justice where they’ll be speaking on the Housing Status protection policy goal, SCA 9 and the local United to House Los Angeles initiative.

Please contact Robert Villagomez, RVillagomez@housingca.org, to apply for membership in the speakers’ bureau, or to book a speakers’ bureau member for your meeting or event.