Discover how the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless is transforming advocacy by centering leadership on lived experience. Learn how this shift is driving powerful, community-led solutions to end homelessness across the state.
Since its founding in 1984, the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless (MCH) has generated policies, community support, and resources to end homelessness in Minnesota. As the only statewide, member-driven advocacy organization focused exclusively on nonpartisan solutions to homelessness, MCH has helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and removed key policy barriers to housing stability.
Over the past decade, MCH has transformed its advocacy approach by centering leadership around those who have lived in and experienced homelessness. Rather than relying solely on traditional policy strategists, MCH now prioritizes community-led solutions. From 2017 to 2023, this shift was evident in a major campaign to end unsheltered homelessness, emphasizing shared messaging, relationship-building, and LE engagement. This effort resulted in $300 million in new investments for shelter infrastructure, operations, and prevention programs.
This transformation began in 2017 with the creation of the Regional Expert Network (REN), a group of individuals with firsthand experience of homelessness who contributed through speaking, consulting, and advocacy. After six years of collaboration with the REN, MCH launched a paid Advocacy Fellowship Program in 2023 to further invest in lived experience leadership.
Now in its fifth decade, MCH is fully embracing a new era—one where leadership rooted in lived experience is not just valued but central to the organization’s mission and every aspect of its work. Read on to discover why we made this change and how it has transformed our approach and outcomes.