The Wellbeing Blueprint hosted a discussion with housing justice leaders across the country to showcase innovative solutions to end homelessness. Service providers, organizers and people with lived expertise shared what is working in their communities and ideas for making housing a human right, not a privilege.
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This event was part of a two-part series on Housing Justice, watch the recording from our first event about Housing, Wellbeing and Racial Equity.
Billy Anfield’s lived experience informs his work as the advocacy coordinator for Central City Concern’s reentry program, Flip the Script, which supports recently released Black men and women through access to housing, health care, jobs and peer support. Billy coordinates the Flip the Script Advocacy Group, a team of program participants and alumni pushing for criminal justice reform and greater equity for people with criminal records.
Wicahpi (Star) Means, member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, is the current Housing and Loan Specialist at Black Hills Community Loan Fund, a Native CDFI, in Rapid City, SD. Star comes to us with over 8 years of banking and lending experience and over 10 years of working in Native Community Development in urban and reservation settings.
She is passionate about sharing her knowledge regarding credit and lending with the people she serves. Star is always looking for ways to plant the seeds needed to create systems for successful regenerative Native Community Development. She is a certified credit coach and is certified to facilitate, Building Native Communities; Financial Literacy, Credit When Credit is Due, and Pathway’s Home; 1st Time Homebuyer curriculum.
Star is currently a student and studying for her Bachelor of Arts degree in Leadership and Communications from Oglala Lakota College. She is a mother of two boys, and they are her biggest motivation in life and beyond.
Shay-La Romney has worked in operations for several decades, most notably as the executive director of The Banneker Foundation, where she developed the foundation’s strategic plan and oversaw fundraising, community outreach, and marketing and development. The foundation was started by Banneker Ventures, a minority-owned construction company where Shay-La was vice president of operations for seven years, helping grow the company from two to 50 employees and from working in two to 11 states. She led the company’s expansion into the federal government marketplace, winning more than $100 million in contracts.
Most recently Shay-La served as the Senior Regional Partnerships Director for College Track, a college access and completion program. She served in the Peace Corps for three years – in Paraguay and the Dominican Republic – and worked for ChildFund International. Shay-La obtained a Master of Education in Research Methodology from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from Howard University. She is a native of Colorado and recently returned to be closer to family after many years in Washington, D.C.
Climate adaptation can be a booster for the wellbeing of people and the planet. Join us as we explore how to leverage climate adaptation to move beyond protecting what we have now to building the equitable communities we wish for.
Learn about how organizations design programs and initiatives with wellbeing at the center, how they work past barriers, and what this approach has unlocked for themselves and their communities.
We participated in an important conversation that explored how investing in the built environment can be used as a lever for decriminalizing mental illness, increasing public safety, enhancing civic participation, addressing inequities and improving public health