Our Work
Using the Power of Policy to transform communities
Our work is rooted in the lived experiences in the communities we advocate for. We empower real people to use their voices to effect change.
We want our work to change the system, to change lives. It's not pie-in-the-sky rhetoric or ivory-tower gatekeeping. We are committed to engaging in useful, equitable advocacy for those who have been pushed out of the process by the forces of power and are committed to uplifting the voice of people who traditionally have not had audiences in state legislatures or Congress.
We take a high-touch, collaborative, and bipartisan approach to addressing some of our society's most challenging issues and work federally and on a state level to elevate the voice of those with lived experiences for our clients. With well over 15 years of legislative advocacy experience, our firm takes a unique approach to legislative advocacy and agenda setting.
Elevating the Voice of the Voiceless Through Co-Design
We tap into the power of experience to elevate the voices of those impacted by policy and empower them to use their voice to advocate and lead. Through the co-design process, we help put lived experts at the core of program design and give the power back to those most impacted by the program.
Case Study:
Through the co-design process, we uncovered a whole demographic of young people not being served by the current state agency policies designed to reduce youth homelessness.
Case In Point:
Our lived experts revealed an unseen barrier to preventing youth from becoming unhoused. Young people couldn’t consent to their own housing, and that meant that youth discharged from mental health or juvenile justice facilities were being released into homelessness because they had nowhere to go.
The Solution:
Partnering with key organizations and advocates to pass a bill allowing young people to consent to their own housing.
Changing the System Through Community Engagement and Training
We get people civically involved through community building, training and development and give them the tools to transform the way the system operates.
Our trainings for providers, organizations, community leaders, and individuals with lived experience provide the foundation communities need to enact powerful, equitable and systemic change.
At our core, we are relationship builders. We convene stakeholders to effect real change by training individuals and organizations on the tools and knowledge they need to create anti-racists, lived expertise-informed programs and policies that work for all
Creating Powerful Change Through Direct Lobbying and Policy Advocacy
We work on behalf of communities historically left out of the advocacy process to lobby for transformative, equitable policies in economic, housing, education, policing and other areas of systemic racism and oppression. It's a high-touch, bi-parisan, community-driven approach to change.
SDM’s policy team worked collaboratively with legislators, organizations, and other stakeholders to secure these important wins for the people in underserved communities and help create transformative, equitable policies that will improve the lives of youth, families and workers.