Speak Up! – Amplifying Voices of Lived Experience
Speak Up! is a healing-centered storytelling and advocacy program for people with lived experience of homelessness. Through workshops, creative expression, and one-on-one coaching, participants explore their experiences, build community, develop leadership skills, and prepare to advocate for solutions that help people thrive in housing.
What is Speak Up!
Speak Up! is designed for people with lived experience of homelessness. Whether participants arrive ready to share their experiences or are still finding their voice, the program provides space for connection, creative expression, personal growth, and advocacy.
About the Program
Blending expert-led workshops with individual coaching, Speak Up! helps participants strengthen storytelling, advocacy, public speaking, and leadership skills. The program uses a healing-centered approach that recognizes the impact of homelessness, trauma, and recovery while creating opportunities for self-expression, community connection, and personal growth.
Participants engage in storytelling to explore how their experiences and expertise can contribute to stronger communities and more effective homelessness responses.
📍Program Locations: The program is currently active in Los Angeles, California and Indianapolis, Indiana.
“It is one of the most supportive places I’ve been. People who are coming from lived experience of being homeless genuinely talk openly about their experience, but also share how they came out on the other side stronger.”
– Mychael Castillo, CSH Speak Up! Advocate
What is the Impact?
Participants frequently describe Speak Up! as a transformative experience that helps them build connections, discover new ways to express themselves, and recognize the value of their lived expertise. After completing the program, Speak Up! participants often help influence policy, become public speakers, and consult on homelessness solutions. They have a community they can grow with, the skills to pursue art and leadership opportunities, and the ability to influence solutions. Participants drive change locally and nationally through:
- Advocating with policymakers to design effective policies that address the root causes of homelessness.
- Sharing their stories at conferences, public events, community forums, and policymaking spaces.
- Consulting on homelessness programs and policies.
- Championing lived experience as central to effective solutions to homelessness.
How the Curriculum Works
Designed with and for people with lived experience of homelessness, the Speak Up! curriculum centers healing, community, and self-expression while building advocacy and public speaking skills. Rather than focusing only on advocacy, Speak Up! creates space for participants to reflect on their experiences, connect with others, and identify how they want to use their voice and expertise in their communities. The Speak Up! program:
- Focuses on three goals: Exploring the systems and experiences that contribute to homelessness, learning advocacy 101, and developing individual voice.
- Follows a wellness framework: Centers community and self-care for healing through storytelling and collective change work.
- Embraces creative storytelling: Fosters expression of personal narrative through different forms of art, including spoken word, painting, movement, and poetry.
- Connects to the arts community: Expands the impact of the program by building connections between advocates and local creatives.
Get Involved
Become a Speak Up! Advocate
Who You Are: Participants are currently living in stable housing, have lived experience of homelessness, and are interested in exploring their stories, building leadership skills, and contributing their perspectives to community conversations about homelessness and housing.
Prior experience: No prior advocacy, storytelling, or public speaking experience is required.
Support: Participants should be currently living in stable housing and connected to a service provider support team.
Time Commitment: Approximately 10 hours per month over three months through in-person workshops, meetings, and coaching sessions. Most meetings are held in the evenings.
Location: Participants must be based in the Los Angeles metro area.
Stipend: A modest stipend is provided to help offset travel and other expenses.
Become a Speak Up! Coach
Who You Are: Coaches may be anyone with public speaking or storytelling experience, including writers, actors, poets, or artists. We seek coaches with experience in advocacy, coaching, or public speaking.
What You’ll Do: Coaches support participants as they explore and develop their stories: offering guidance, encouragement, and feedback throughout the program.
Time Commitment: Approximately 10 hours per month for three months. Most meetings are held in the evenings.
Location: Coaches must be based in the Los Angeles metro area.
Stipend: A modest stipend is provided to help offset travel and other expenses.
Philanthropy Makes Speak Up! Possible
Help Bring Speak Up! to More Communities
Grants and other philanthropic support help fund workshops and coaching, compensate advocates and coaches for their time and expertise, secure meeting space, support creative programming, and celebrate participant accomplishments.
Support also creates opportunities to connect participants’ stories and expertise with policymakers, service providers, community leaders, and others working to address homelessness. By investing in Speak Up!, funders help ensure that people with lived experience can contribute their knowledge, perspectives, and leadership to homelessness solutions.
As additional funding becomes available, CSH hopes to expand opportunities for more communities to benefit from the Speak Up! model.
👉 Contact us at [email protected]
Support Speak Up! as an Individual
Speak Up! is strengthened by donations from people who believe that those closest to the challenges of homelessness should have opportunities to shape the solutions. Your gift helps support workshops, coaching, participant stipends, creative expression activities, and community-building opportunities.
🚩 To direct your donation to Speak Up!, please indicate “Speak Up!” as the program you would like to support when completing the donation form.