Sisters of the Road’s Systemic Change Program is committed to identifying and implementing immediate and long-term solutions to problems faced by people experiencing homelessness locally and nationally.

At the core of Sisters’ community organizing lies our belief that the people most qualified to dismantle oppressive systems are those with lived experience of that oppression. We envision a community that no longer needs us to operate as a non-profit, where everyone has the resources they need to thrive. Until then, we are dedicated to centering and empowering community, organizing with diverse communities, and advocating for lasting, equitable change.

Principles of Systemic Change at Sisters

Communities have the power to organize to make change: People have power in numbers. When a community organizes, people have a sense of their own power, they win concrete victories, and those victories lead to altering the relations of power. Through these victories and changes in power, this same community will continue to develop organizations that build more power and win more victories.

Change is possible: This is true for individual people as well as societal systems. People can change behavior, we can affect each others’ hearts and minds, and all people can enjoy basic human rights. “Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.” – Dorothy Day.

Big change doesn’t happen overnight: No one expects that one conversation will change an entire lifetime of attitudes. One campaign won’t transform public policy. However, small changes occur over time, and the more such concepts are reinforced the more change will ultimately occur.