We’re excited to continue our series and highlight the voices of our 2026 Advocacy Fellows through a four-part reflection series. Each Fellow will share what stood out in their conference experience and how their work and experiences continue to shape their advocacy.
We’re excited to share the recording of that conversation alongside these reflections! Whether you attended the session or missed it, we encourage you to watch and hear directly from these incredible advocates. We hope you’ll follow along over the next four weeks as we hear a reflection from each of our Fellows.
This week, we are starting with Randi Wickham below!
[RANDI]:
“This year was a little different for me than in the past years. I have been attending the MCH conference for 4 years, I believe. I usually take on the LEAN role, so we are working on scholarships, answering questions, coordinating transportation and lodging, making sure the LEAN booth is set up, and a million other small things to make it as accessible as possible for PLE. I have also presented while doing the LEAN tasks, so my conference experience varies from year to year. I had to make sure my LEAN role and my MCH role were not taking over one another because they are both very vital and they both mean a lot to me. I had to recognize my limits as a person, use some skills to balance, and also ask for help.
I have been representing people with lived experience (PLE) for years at the conference, but this year I was able to take my experience and bring it to the whole conference. I was able to share the complexities and ups and downs of my journey, highlight PLE, and hopefully give some professionals insight into what it means to do this work and how important it is. I also hope I was able to inspire, or at least plant a seed in my peers who are doing the work or thinking about what their LE means. Showing that we aren’t our pasts, but we can use our stories to shape the narrative, and our voices are important.
Because I had a different role this year, I was more upfront, not just working behind the scenes coordinating. I knew I was not only representing PLE and LEAN, but I was also representing MCH. At first, I put a lot of pressure on myself, but as the conference got closer, I got more confident.
I surprised myself at how I handled myself on the stage, talking in front of so many people. It helped that I was able to bring my bearded dragon, Zen (who you will see on my shoulder during my speech). I realized how capable I was and that this was just a gathering of a lot of people and organizations that I have had some familiarity with in the years I’ve been actively advocating.
There were so many things that stood out. I was so proud of my fellow advocates, listening to their speeches and knowing them on a personal level. I was proud to be up there next to them. I learned so much from my peers, and listening to the Alumni talk about what they are doing gave me all kinds of ideas and inspiration for what I can do after my time as an MCH Fellow ends.
I loved being able to introduce Nancy, the keynote speaker. Her story and the story behind the artwork that she chose for this year were so inspiring and fitting. I had the privilege to witness some awesome presentations of PLE, watching my peers step outside their comfort zone and put on 90-minute presentations by themselves because their message is important and they know it needs to be shared.
One of the coolest moments was listening to a professional come up to one of my fellow PLE the day after her presentation and say thank you. They let my peer know that because of the information she presented, this professional was able to give their client the resource, and it helped.
[RANDI continued]:
“It is such a cool thing to watch people who are so smart come out of their shells and grow, and watch professionals get that aha moment and learn something from LE in real time. And my peer gets the validation that what they are doing matters and really can make a huge difference.
I have invited my friends and family to attend this conference and will continue because it is such a vital and important part of the work we do all over the state. It brings us together and gives me hope that I’m not alone. We are all dealing with a lot of the frustrations of policy, red tape, lack of funding, or not enough resources. We can learn what works and what people have tried, hear ideas, and just have some time to hang out with colleagues, decompress, and support each other.
I want people to know that we are not alone in this. We are all struggling in different ways, but if we work together, keep an open mind, and continue to collaborate, we can continue making progress and hopefully one day end homelessness.
We know there isn’t one contributing factor, but many, and the solution isn’t on one of us, but all of us working together and using our unique skills and abilities to find the solutions and adapt and make changes to outdated systems and policies.
It takes professionals, organizations, politicians, and PLE all working together. But we can make a difference.”
At this year’s conference, our Fellows also joined Advocacy Fellowship Alumni for a conversation about leadership, lived experience, and the importance of making space for those most impacted by homelessness in our advocacy work. Check out the Fellows Advocacy Spotlight from the Conference here.
Thank you to our Advocacy Fellows, especially Randi this week, and alumni for sharing their experiences, perspectives, and leadership. We appreciate all they bring to this work and the opportunity to continue learning from one another. We’ll be sharing more reflections from our 2026 Fellows over the next few weeks, so stay tuned.
