Students Supporting Habitat

Act! Speak! Build! Week is a time for Habitat Campus Chapters around the country to take part in a week focused on Habitat. The week concentrates on more than just building with Habitat; it also focuses on advocating for decent, affordable shelter and educating the public on affordable housing issues. The University of Minnesota is in the middle of a week of events!

The University kicked off their Act Speak Build Week with a box building activity on campus. This gave students an opportunity to use some power tools in between classes. The storage boxes are now available at the ReStore for purchase. On Tuesday, the students planned an event where they had a bouncy house on campus. In order to jump on the bouncy house students had to sign an advocacy postcard that will be sent to legislators to let them know that why affordable housing matters to them. Our advocacy team is supporting a bill to pass $130 million dollars to support affordable housing. 

Other events the university has planned for the  week include a Twins game with pre-game parade on Wednesday, an advocacy dinner on Thursday, a cornhole tournament on the Coffman Union Front Lawn Friday from 10 am – 2 pm, and on Saturday a 5k Fundraiser. There is still time to sign up to run in the 5k! Sign up  here.

Another example of students getting involved with Habitat happened just last week. Saint Paul Public school students involved in the Teenventure program were at the Habitat office to learn about Habitat, and careers in nonprofits. Teenventure is a program that does various career-based field trips for middle school age students living in poverty. It's scheduled on non-school days and is intended to expose students to opportunities that are possible for their future. The students spent the morning doing our homeowner matching simulation, and hearing from various staff members at Habitat about what a typical day at their job looks like.

If you’re interested in getting your school involved with Habitat please contact Sarah Harris at sarah.harris@tchabitat.org or call 612-305-7164.