Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing reflections from the members of the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Advocacy Fellowship. Throughout the legislative session, these fellows brought their lived expertise into conversations with lawmakers, testified on critical housing issues, built relationships with advocates across the state, and developed their own leadership and advocacy skills.
The Fellowship is grounded in a simple belief: the people most impacted by housing instability and homelessness should have a meaningful role in shaping the policies that affect their lives. Through training, mentorship, and hands-on advocacy experience, fellows gain the tools to share their stories, influence policy, and strengthen movements for housing justice.
In this reflection, fellow DaKota Morgan shares how the experience deepened their understanding of advocacy, leadership, and the power of lived experience in creating change.
[DAKOTA]: One of the most impactful parts of this Fellowship has been realizing what it feels like to truly be heard. Through work connected to Our Future Starts at Home, I had the opportunity to advocate for the Household and Community Stability Fund, specifically around creating avenues for communities to continue having a voice in how the bill is implemented and shaped over time. Being able to sit alongside legislators, advocates, and community leaders while speaking directly on issues affecting my communities was incredibly powerful. There have been moments where I’ve looked around the room and realized that, for the first time, my lived experience was not being treated as something to hide or overcome, but as something valuable. This Fellowship helped me understand that my voice belongs in these spaces just as much as anyone else’s.
What surprised me most throughout this experience was how personal advocacy really is. Before entering this work, policymaking felt distant — like something happening somewhere far away from the people most impacted by it. But this Fellowship showed me that real change starts with relationships, storytelling, and people being willing to speak honestly about their experiences.
Every conversation, testimony, and meeting reminded me that policy is not just language on paper. It shapes people’s lives, futures, and sense of stability.
Writing and delivering testimony became one of the most transformative parts of this experience for me. Speaking publicly about housing instability and systems involvement requires a level of vulnerability that can feel incredibly intimidating, especially when those experiences are deeply personal. But somewhere throughout this process, I realized that speaking — whether through testimony, community conversations, or in front of large groups — is something I am deeply passionate about and genuinely good at. The more I spoke, the more I realized that my voice is powerful beyond measure. I began to see that my story could move people, shift conversations, and create space for others to feel seen, too. This Fellowship has helped me grow not only as an advocate but as a leader, and it has made me excited to continue stepping into that leadership more fully.
A large part of my advocacy work has focused on developing legislation centered on filling the gap between extended foster care and housing instability. As someone with lived experience in foster care, this issue feels deeply personal to me because I understand firsthand how unstable and uncertain that transition can be. Foster youth have some of the most predictable pathways to homelessness and housing instability, especially after aging out of systems that are supposed to support them, yet so many young people are still expected to navigate adulthood entirely on their own. Being able to advocate for solutions that could genuinely change outcomes for youth has been both emotional and empowering. It has reminded me that lived experience is not a weakness in policy spaces — it is often the perspective that is needed most.
This Fellowship has changed the way I see myself, my voice, and what leadership can look like.
It has shown me that leadership is not only about titles or expertise, but about the willingness to speak up for your community even when it feels difficult. I’m incredibly grateful for the relationships I’ve built and the opportunities I’ve had so far, and I’m even more excited for what comes next. I can already feel myself growing into the kind of advocate and leader I want to become, and I can’t wait to see what more my leadership can do.
DaKota’s experience highlights many of the goals of the Advocacy Fellowship: helping participants strengthen their advocacy skills, connect with policymakers and community leaders, and see the impact their voices can have in policy spaces. We appreciate the work and perspective DaKota has brought to this year’s cohort and are excited to share reflections from the rest of our fellows soon!
– MCH Team, and mostly DaKota Morgan, MCH Advocacy Fellow
