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In March, the first-year participants of our Advocacy and Organizing Training project hosted a Housing Advocacy Event at the UPMC Neighborhood Center in East Liberty. About 40 people (from 11 different Pittsburgh neighborhoods and 11 different Allegheny County municipalities!) attended and heard from two panels. The first panel shared their experiences and challenges securing safe, healthy, and affordable housing. This panel featured two of our participants, Nina Riley and Shirley Muhammad. The second panel responded to the first panel and discussed how they were working to support tenants and improve housing through their own work. Training participant Terry McGeorge emceed the event. Housing advocacy groups, resource providers, and others (including several of you!) connected with attendees and project participants. All of our other participants–Charon Boyd West, Denyne Pollard, Nicole Pollard, Paris Samboy Rivera, Shandre Delaney, and Tonya Todd – helped make sure the event ran as smoothly as it did!

Thanks to all who attended, especially our guest panelists: Bagumba Lowery (Homewood resident), Carol Hardeman (Hill District Consensus Group), Magisterial District Judge Kevin Cooper, Jr., and Chuck Keenan (Allegheny County Department of Human Services). Thanks to our project steering committee members who helped put this event on: Carla Arnold (Perry Hilltop/Fineview), Cheri Smith (Homewood), Fawn Walker Montgomery (McKeesport), and Nekeisha Carter (Homewood).
 

Info & Resource Guides

 

During the training project, our participants shared that many people they knew didn’t know their basic rights and other facts about housing. Over the last few months, our participants worked with housing advocates Bob Damewood and Ife Orebiyi of Regional Housing Legal Services (thank you!) and our project staff to put together two-page information and resource guides on tenants’ rights, evictions, and unhealthy housing. Training participant Paris Samboy Rivera translated these guides into Spanish. Both English and Spanish language versions are available here. Please feel free to print, use, and distribute! ​