About the PWLEC
The Partners with Lived Expertise Committee (PWLEC), previously Persons of Lived Experience (PLE) Cohort, is made up of persons with lived experience of homelessness who come from racially diverse backgrounds and have experienced multiple intersectional barriers to housing. We stand together as the bridge between the system and persons experiencing homelessness. We share our own experience and expertise with others to build relationships and to inspire transformative and equitable change across the system. We recognize that this work comes at high personal cost to every one of us due to personal and systemic trauma around race, gender, socioeconomic status, and host of other factors, and because of that, work together to support one another through this work.
The PWLEC was born from the Racial Equity plan in January 2022. Since that time, it has grown from 3 to 10 members and continues to grow.
Our Duties
Advise on ongoing projects from around the CoC
Identify Barriers to and gaps in inequity
Elevate voices of people with lived experience
Design and propose solutions to challenges
Our Priorities
- Creating better access to housing resources and services regardless of race, color, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, parental status, housing status, or other protected status.
- Increasing the numbers of unsheltered persons that receive permanent housing as well as supportive services to treat trauma, mental and physical health, and life skills to maintain permanent housing.
- Ensuring partners with lived expertise continue being heard, seen, acknowledged, and uplifted to positions of power to create change.
- Making an organic, lasting, and transformative change, via advocating for those without a voice to provide a greater shift in serving historically excluded and exploited people and continuing to move the work forward.
- Dismantling structural and institutional discrimination within our local homelessness response system and beyond.
Our Team
Meet the people who make the work of the PWLEC possible.
Dawn Basciano
Marjorie C. Beazer
Korei M. Gipson
Keon Johnson
Onesimo "O" Cendejas Jr.
Darrell Rogers
Latesha Royster
Kristy Smith
Yvette Buckner
Julius Douglas
Recent Updates & Articles
Select the posts below to view details on recent updates surrounding our efforts and articles featuring our work.
Community Solutions: “Q&A with Tanesha Travis, Persons with Lived Expertise Coordinator at SSF”
Note: Since this article was posted, Tanesha Travis has moved on to new opportunities and is no longer an employee of SSF. Community Solutions recently
Community Solutions: “Sacramento Steps Forward to Deepen Engagement with People with Lived Experience”
We are honored to share that Community Solutions recently published an article featuring Sacramento Steps Forward (SSF), highlighting our deepened commitment to engaging individuals with
PLE Cohort: A Year in Review and Future Plans
The Persons with Lived Experience (PLE) Cohort has been hard at work over the last year. Review the presentation below, originally presented at the September