About Us
We are uniting voices to strengthen housing conversations across Minnesota.
Home Stories is a statewide initiative of Foundations for Home that helps strengthen how Minnesotans talk about housing. Through research, storytelling, training, and partnerships, we help organizations, community leaders, storytellers, and other partners communicate about housing in ways that connect with people's values and lived experiences.
Our goal is simple: to help more Minnesotans understand the role housing plays in strong communities and create the understanding and support needed for lasting housing solutions.
Housing affects all of us, but conversations about housing don't always reflect the values and experiences people share. Home Stories helps bridge that gap
What We Do
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We work with partners like Housing Narrative Lab to understand how Minnesotans think and talk about housing and translate those insights into practical messaging tools and resources. Our work is grounded in statewide research and ongoing learning from communities across Minnesota. Learn more about how to use the research here.
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Stories help make shared values real. Home Stories collects, stewards, and shares stories from people whose lives intersect with housing, while also providing tools and training that help people connect their experiences to broader conversations about home, community, and opportunity. Learn more or tell your story.
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We provide trainings, resources, and practical support that help organizations and leaders communicate more effectively about housing. Whether someone is new to the work or looking to deepen their practice, Home Stories helps partners build confidence in using research-based messaging and storytelling approaches. View webinars and helpful guides here.
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We create opportunities for communicators, storytellers, advocates, funders, and housing leaders to learn from one another, share ideas, and strengthen housing conversations across Minnesota. Sign up for our email list to be notified of events and convenings.
Where Home Stories Began
Home Stories grew out of a statewide effort to better understand how Minnesotans think and talk about housing. The initiative began when Minnesota Housing Partnership and the McKnight Foundation partnered with Housing Narrative Lab to conduct research on housing narratives in Minnesota.
That research identified messages and values that resonated across communities and helped shape the foundation of the Home Stories Messaging Framework.
In 2025, a statewide committee of housing, communications, philanthropy, and lived-experience leaders came together to develop a long-term vision and strategy for the initiative. Today, Home Stories continues that work as a key initiative of Foundations for Home, helping partners across Minnesota put research into practice through storytelling, training, communications support, and shared learning.
Our Mission
To work alongside Minnesotans with local and lived expertise to craft messages and share real stories that build shared recognition of housing as a basic need and a foundation for thriving Minnesota communities.
Our Vision
A Minnesota where housing is recognized as a basic need and a foundation for thriving communities, and where everyone is supported in having a safe, stable place to call home.
Questions or Want to Learn More?
Home Stories is an initiative of Foundations for Home. For questions about trainings, resources, partnerships, storytelling, or getting involved, please contact:
Emily Lamberty
Director of Strategy & Operations, Foundations for Home
emily@mnfoundationsforhome.org