Become an Advocate with Advocates STL
Welcome! Becoming an Advocate is a life-transforming experience—an opportunity to serve your community, build meaningful connections, and help neighbors maintain their hard-won stability.
Who Are Advocates?
Advocates are community members equipped and commissioned to provide dedicated support. They come from diverse backgrounds, ages, and walks of life, but they share one important trait: a heart for bringing dignity, stability, and healing to people navigating crisis.
In short, Advocates are people like you—caring individuals who want to make a difference by walking alongside those building a new life.
Who Do We Support?
Advocates STL supports Neighbors (care receivers) who have experienced the losses of homelessness but have bravely sought employment and housing to regain their dignity and rebuild their lives.
This transition is often fragile. A single unexpected crisis—car trouble, a medical bill, or bureaucratic red tape—can threaten employment or housing. Advocates provide the essential stability and "scaffolding" needed to weather these storms, ensuring that a temporary setback doesn’t lead back to homelessness.
What Do Advocates Do?
An Advocate walks alongside a Neighbor to provide one-to-one care. While the core of this role is listening, empathizing, and encouraging, Advocates also serve three specific functions to help Neighbors navigate complex systems:
The Connector: You help build bridges to essential community resources.
Identify Needs: Listen to understand if the neighbor needs help with food, healthcare, legal aid, or transportation.
Link to Resources: Connect them to the right social services and help them make the initial contact.
The Navigator: You help overcome the barriers of bureaucracy.
Paperwork Support: Assist with complicated applications for benefits, IDs, or housing.
Logistical Help: Help arrange transportation beyond public transit or accompany them to intimidating appointments for moral support.
The Voice: You serve as a champion for your Neighbor.
Advocacy: Speak up on their behalf when they feel unheard by landlords, agencies, or employers.
Rights Defense: Help ensure they are treated with dignity and fairness in all interactions.
Typically, an Advocate meets with their Neighbor in person for about an hour a week.
What Is Advocate Training Like?
You do not need prior experience to do this—you will be fully equipped. Advocate training is an engaging, interactive experience designed to give you the skills you need to provide high-quality care.
Your Advocate Leader will use presentations, discussions, and skill practices to cover:
Crisis Intervention: How to maintain stability during emergencies.
Resource Navigation: How to access local social services.
Relational Skills: Listening, boundaries, and empathetic support.
This training is often described as life-transforming, teaching principles that deepen and enhance relationships in all areas of your life.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people will I support?
You will typically support one Neighbor at a time, meeting with them once a week.
How long is the commitment?
Advocates make an initial two-year commitment, which includes the training period. Many Advocates find the work so fulfilling that they choose to renew their commitment and serve for many years.
What kind of support will I receive?
You are never alone. You will receive ongoing equipping from your Advocate Leader and meet regularly in peer supervision groups. These meetings allow Advocates to help and encourage one another, forming a close-knit, compassionate community.
Can I do this if I lack experience?
Definitely. The training is comprehensive, and you aren't expected to "fix" the Neighbor's life—only they can do that. Your role is to open doors, provide stability, and be a reliable presence.
What Do I Do Next?
Reflect on the opportunity to serve as an Advocate. Consider if you have the time and heart to walk with someone on their journey to self-sufficiency.
Apply for the next Advocate training class by contacting us or talking to a current Advocate.
Join us in this crucial work. Your presence can make the difference between a crisis and a comeback.