Dear Urban Homeworks Community,
My name is Temi Ogunrinde and I am the new Equity and Engagement Director at Urban Homeworks. This is more of a welcome back than a welcome, as I was a part of the UHW team last year! It feels good to be back and in this new role; I am ecstatic to join the team as we work to dismantle one of the foundations of systemic racism: policy. As we continue to grow influence in the political sphere, we want to remain unapologetically centered on our community, taking their ideas and hopes for an equitable housing ecosystem and supporting policy that matches.
I am not the only new member of the Equity and Engagement team either—please join me in welcoming our new Resident Organizer: Yuri Harper! Yuri is also not a stranger to the UHW family! She worked with us as a Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) Family Coach, doing beautiful work as a partner to our organization. I am truly so excited to dig into this work with Yuri, our Volunteer Manager Ashley Satorius, and the rest of the UHW team.
As you may know, this is an election year. Hot off the press is our 2022 voter guide that will be handed out to each resident, aimed to help explain the impact each position on the ballot has on individuals’ day-to-day life, as well as resources for learning more about who is on the ballot, voter rights, and voting. Following the election on November 8th, UHW is throwing a Post-Election Celebration for residents! Civic engagement takes so much time and energy, we want to honor and celebrate our residents for making their voices heard, as well as share next steps for holding our future elected officials accountable.
With the Holiday season coming up, we’ve also begun collecting gift card donations for our families. Our goal is to give each resident household several gift cards to places like Cub, Target, Visa, Holiday Gas, and Walmart, so they can purchase whatever they may need to celebrate this season and prepare for the coming winter.
As always, we cannot thank you enough for your unconditional support for our organization, our staff, and most importantly, our residents. I am looking forward to seeing the impact of your support in these last few months of 2022 and into the new year!
All the best,
