Background
The Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness (MICH) is a State of Minnesota cabinet-level body comprised of 13 state agencies and the Metropolitan Council. MICH has contracted with Rainbow Research to support the development of statewide strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness focused on achieving housing, racial, and health justice for people experiencing homelessness. MICH and Rainbow Research are seeking the input of those who have lived experience of homelessness to bring their expertise and knowledge to our team as temporary, paid consultants to guide us as we strive toward racial justice, housing justice, and health justice for people experiencing homelessness. This is an opportunity for people who have experienced homelessness to have a direct impact on the state’s action plan to address homelessness from a justice lens.
Who are we looking for?
The consultant group will consist of up to 8 people who have experienced homelessness and are interested in bringing their expertise to shape the state’s work on housing, racial, and health justice. The goal is to have a consultant group that represents both rural and urban experiences as well the experiences of families, individuals, veterans, and young people. We strongly encourage individuals who are Black, Indigenous, Latinx, or a person of color to apply. Together we will work towards developing a justice-oriented plan focusing on developing an operational definition to describe housing justice, racial justice, and health justice.
We are looking for people who have experienced a range of forms of homelessness currently or in the past.
We want people who are passionate about helping shape the way the state deals with the root causes and current needs of Minnesotan’s experiencing homelessness.
What to expect
The consultants will:
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Be expected to engage in discussions using your experiences and insights to guide the work groups and community conversations and help shape what racial, health and housing justice looks like in Minnesota.
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Attend 2-4 meetings per month (1-2 hours per meeting) for 4 months. These meetings include:
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small planning meetings
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large work groups (state staff, community organizations) around racial justice, housing justice and health justice)
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large convenings in the community
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Maximum of 32 hours total for $1600 ($50 per hour).
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Currently all the work is done virtually, and consultants will join meetings on a computer, tablet, or phone. Rainbow Research can meet with consultants in person if they are not able to join meetings virtually.
We expect that you attend each meeting on time and are ready to engage. We ask that you are able and willing to vocalize your thoughts, ideas, concerns, and questions. We are asking you to keep in mind that your input and participation is critical to the change you want to see. Working together as a team and with the state we can make significant changes in the racial, health, and housing injustices in the state of Minnesota.
For assistance with completing the application or if you have any questions, send an email to:
lcoleman@rainbowresearch.org or call/text 612-685-8332 .
