UHMP Current And Former Interns, Founder Present At Housing Conference
Two Urban Health Media Project college interns joined UHMP co-founder Jayne O'Donnell on a virtual panel on February 12 at a national conference on housing. At the “Fair Housing For Our Future” event, they spoke about the impact of homelessness on mental and physical health.
Clockwise from top left: Jayne O'Donnell, Sierra Lewter, Davon Harris, and Wendy Nichols speaking on a panel at a housing conference earlier this year.
Intern and Virginia Union University sophomore Davon Harris participated in the panel, while his mother (UHMP's Parent and Community Liaison, Deirtra Harris) and former intern and University of the District of Columbia student Reggie Payne appeared on video to talk about their experience with homelessness.
The students also discussed what they've learned about how homelessness affects mental health. Intern and NYU Tisch School of the Arts junior Sierra Lewter spoke about her work filming and interviewing Wendy Nichols, another panel participant, who is a trans woman living in a shelter for LGBTQ+ young people in Washington, D.C.
UHMP was invited to participate in the upcoming Fair Housing for Our Future Conference. The conference in April will focus on inequities and disparities through a fair housing lens. Representatives from UHMP will report on students' findings on policy solutions from its new housing and health workshop titled “Home Sick: How Where We Live Impacts Health." The six-week workshop, which started March 2, allowed high-school student journalists a chance to learn about the many ways where they live impacts health, both mental and physical.