NCH Projects

The National Coalition for the Homeless sponsors many educational and organizing projects, special campaigns, and annual events. We work to empower homeless people, whose voices are essential to the public policy debate.

Faces of Homelessness Speakers' Bureau
The Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau is a program of the National Coalition for the Homeless that is comprised of people who are or have been homeless and works to educate the public about homelessness and what can be done to end it. This approach is a unique and necessary tool because it establishes a significant platform for those whom homelessness affects directly to talk personally about their experiences. Additionally, the Speakers' Bureau creates opportunities for members to advocate for themselves and others, as well as build the necessary bridges with the rest of society so that we may work cooperatively to end this disgrace called homelessness.

The Homeless Challenge Project
Economically-privileged people dressing down, emptying their wallets and spending time on the streets as homeless people for up to 48 hours. This project has been hosted by NCH for more than 20 years. Historically the Challenge has involved College student groups, but is now working to involve public officials in experiencing a tragedy that too many of their constituents face daily.

The Bringing America Home Campaign
This national, broad-based initiative is dedicated to the goal of ending homelessness. The Campaign is founded on the principles and action of public education, grassroots organizing and support for progressive policies and legislation. It is founded on the principles that people need affordable housing, livable incomes, health care, education, and protection of their civil rights. The Bringing America Home Campaign is composed of a variety of efforts that address these causes of homelessness.

National Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project
In response to increasing civil rights abuses, NCH is coordinating a locally-based national movement to protect the civil rights of people who are homeless. Find out what you can do to help prevent and combat the violation of homeless people's civil rights.

The "You Don't Need A Home to Vote" Voting Rights Campaign
Since 1992, this campaign has already registered thousands of homeless people in all 50 states. The campaign seeks to protect and promote the right of homeless people to vote.

Hate Crimes/Violence Prevention Project
Over the past eleven years, advocates and homeless shelter workers from around the country have received news reports of men, women and even children being harassed, kicked, set on fire, beaten to death, and even decapitated. From 1999 through 2009, in 47 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, there have been 1,074 acts of violence committed by housed individuals, resulting in 291 deaths of homeless people and 783 victims of non-lethal violence. The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has spearheaded the introduction and passage of legislation to add homeless people to existing hate crimes laws at the local, state and federal levels. NCH is also doing community education on homelessness through its Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau based in Washington, DC, with local Speakers’ Bureaus now operating in three states: Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

• NEW State by state factsheets detailing acts of violence committed against homeless people can be found here.
• Click here for the 2009 Hate Crimes Report.

National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
Co-sponsored annually by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week will be held November 14-20, 2010. Here's how you can become involved! *Click here to read the 2010 Awareness Week manual.*

National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day
Since 1990, NCH has sponsored National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day on or near the first day of winter (December 21) to remember our homeless friends who have paid the ultimate price for our nation's failure to address the issue.This year the National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC) has joined us in co-sponsoring this event. Learn how you can participate in this year's Homeless Persons' Memorial Day. *Click here to download the 2009 Memorial Day manual.*

Universal Living Wage
The Austin, TX-based group Living Wage formula is based on the premise that if a person works 40 hours a week, then he/she should be able to afford basic housing.