ARCH Voices is a statewide leadership initiative that brings together individuals with lived experience of homelessness or housing instability to help shape policies, improve homeless response systems, and strengthen housing opportunities across rural Alabama. Members work alongside housing providers, Continuum of Care leadership, and community partners to ensure that decisions are informed by those who have firsthand experience navigating the homeless assistance system.
ARCH Voices is a network of tenant advocates, service providers, and community leaders from rural Alabama with lived experience of housing insecurity, working to strengthen the systems that hold our communities together. Just as a keystone locks an arch into place, ARCH Voices members bring the piece often missing from statewide policy conversations: the perspective of people who've lived it.
The group meets regularly to weigh in on shared challenges facing low-income families across our 37 counties, take part in leadership development built for rural realities, and grow the relationships and collective voice that move Alabama closer to housing justice.
Members bring lived expertise directly into the rooms where decisions get made.
Members are eligible to receive training through ARCH Academy™, participate in statewide committees, speak at conferences, and help shape CoC policies and funding priorities — creating a clear pipeline from lived experience to system leadership, aligned with HUD's emphasis on meaningful participation by people with lived experience.
Fill out the form below to apply. Applications are reviewed by ARCH on a rolling basis.