I’m a founding and executive member of the National Youth Forum on Homelessness (NYFH). We are a group formed exclusively of young people to help guide the nation in promoting innovative and youth-led solutions to address youth homelessness. NYFH works together with local communities and advises on a nationwide level, including collaboration with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and A Way Home America.
NYFH is a fairly new organization, but we have already accomplished so much. Right now, at the 2017 National Conference on Ending Family and Youth Homelessness (NAEH17) in Houston, Texas, we are making our first formal introduction to the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH).
I was invited to create a visual presentation to represent our members and our vision. We are a diverse group of passionate young advocates, coming from all corners of America.
Pictured above: Kitty poses with her artwork that was featured at NAEH17.
I created a series of paintings representative of the communities that the executive members hail from. And while many of us may not know where we will lie our heads to sleep on any given night, these communities, the ones we passionately work to uplift, are our homes. We come from all corners of America and bring with us our unique insights, strengths, talents, and our lived knowledge and experiences together in the national context of promoting innovative and effective solutions to youth homelessness.