Winona Area Kitchen Table

We know many people in the Winona area struggle to find safe, affordable housing, so we are excited to facilitate a new initiative to advance solutions to the housing crisis in Winona and across the state of Minnesota.

In the summer 2023, we convened the Winona Area Kitchen Table, a cohort of local community members who have faced housing instability or homelessness. Since then, the team has brought their own lived experience and invited cross-sector stakeholders to work together on solutions to housing issues that will truly work in our community.

This work is supported by the Heading Home Minnesota Funders Collaborative. Heading Home Minnesota Funders Collaborative (HHMFC) is a member organization of grantmakers working together to innovate, incubate, and advocate for strategies to prevent and end homelessness.

Applications for the cohort are now closed - please sign up for our newsletter for updates about the program and more ways to be involved.

About the program

This program is part of a statewide initiative focused on preventing housing crises and eliminating racial and rural disparities. The initiative is designed to shift power to those who have historically been harmed, and to create support structures that will help people before they experience a housing crisis. We’re working closely with regional cohorts in Duluth and Minneapolis, and together the cohorts will identify shared priorities and make recommendations to improve housing in Minnesota.

Program objectives include:

  • building relationships between people with lived experience and key stakeholders,

  • collective visioning and design of actionable solutions, and

  • motivating support for tangible change in both policy and practice that advances housing justice.