The Opportunity Starts at Home (OSAH) campaign hosted a Roundtable event in Washington, D.C. on October 1. The event, “Opportunity Starts at Homes: Six Years of Building Effective and Robust Cross-Sector Partnerships,” marked the first in-person meeting of the OSAH Roundtable since 2019. Over 40 representatives from multi-sector national organizations joined to connect with fellow Roundtable members, mobilize around the campaign’s priority bills, and discuss new strategies to further collective efforts.
Stephanie Love-Patterson, CEO and president of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), opened the event with a history of NNEDV’s involvement with the OSAH campaign and its shift from participating as a Roundtable member to serving on the Steering Committee. She emphasized the importance of safe, affordable housing for survivors of domestic violence and the power of cross-sector partnerships. Chantelle Wilkinson, OSAH campaign director, provided an overview of the OSAH campaign’s work over the past six years and what the campaign has accomplished. Sarah Saadian, vice president of field and policy at NLIHC, gave attendees an update on the campaign’s priority bills and plans to advance those bills in the coming year.
Julie Walker, OSAH campaign coordinator, moderated a panel that highlighted the partnerships between the campaign and leaders in domestic violence prevention, early childhood development, food security, and education. Dfox, collaborative approach to housing for survivors (CASH) senior specialist at NNEDV; Patricia Cole, senior federal policy director at ZEROTOTHREE; Robert Campbell, vice president of policy at Feeding America; and Barbara Duffield, executive director of Schoolhouse Connection joined the panel to discuss why their organizations joined the Roundtable and how they have engaged with the OSAH campaign over the years. The event concluded with time for Roundtable members to discuss ideas for continued collaboration in 2025.
The OSAH Opportunity Roundtable is made up of representatives from 122 multi-sector organizations and enables the campaign to raise awareness about the intersections of housing and other sectors, continually expand its multi-sector network, and reach a diverse array of new stakeholders.