People Serving People

Focus Area: Advocacy in Early Childhood

Grant Amount: $10,000

Located in Minneapolis. Opened in 1984, PSP is the largest and most comprehensive, family-focused homeless shelter in Minnesota with 62% of PSP’s guests being children. It provides shelter and multiple support services to move families experiencing homelessness toward self-sufficiency.

Grant supports PSP’s advocacy efforts to engage in the work of Voices and Choices for Children, the Children’s Defense Fund EC advocacy table, and Close Gaps by 5. Critical to this is PSP’s focus on racial equity and belief that Black, Indigenous, and parents of color are the most important voice in advocacy around their issues. PSP is working to develop an authentic engagement model to build power with its families to change systems. This includes increasing staff capacity on advocacy engagement, building trust and relationships between staff and families, increasing parent advocacy capacity, and actively sharing power at decision-making tables.