Housing Justice Summit 2024

Pascual Vasquez, Ricaury 2024-03-27 On March 12th, the Urban Action Institute (UAI) team hosted its first Housing Justice Summit. With a total of 71 participants and 12 community partners involved, there was an incredible crowd at this event. The Housing Justice Summit, led by Director Danielle X. Morales and Assistant Director Midaly Carrasquillo Delgado, was sponsored by the Urban Studies Department, the Binienda Center for Civic Engagement at Worcester State University, Quinsigamond Community College, and UniBank. The summit was created to bring awareness about how housing insecurity can affect students at Worcester State University and Quinsigamond Community College. Some of the learning outcomes from the event were: a) Building the collective capacity in the local higher education community and advancing housing justice goals, specifically in terms of helping housing-insecure students locate resources and connecting students with city advocates and service providers; b) have an open discussion aimed at strengthening relationships between students, universities/colleges, and community partners to ensure continuity in the housing justice work; and c) serve historically underrepresented or marginalized groups by advocating for more institutional support and sustainable networks for peer-to-peer and community support. In this event people, especially the students, would be able to see the effects the current issue has on everyone and be inspired to be part of the change. Similarly, the summit served as an opportunity for students to be able to connect with those that can provide assistance with housing related matters. The housing justice summit was not just an event for us, it was more of an eye-opener for people to get more of an idea and opportunities to be involved in fighting housing insecurity among college students and the larger Worcester community. You can read more about the Housing Justice Summit in the article written by Nancy Sheehan: Housing Justice Summit 2024. https://news.worcester.edu/community-leaders-tackle-housing-justice-at-university-summit/

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