SUMMARY OF INTERVIEW: Aida Basnight-Peery was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Chicago, Illionois. After getting her Bachelors and Masters degrees, Basnight-Peery split most of her time between Chicago and D.C. While in Chicago, she had two kids, a daughter and a son, now 20 and 23-years-old, respectively. Although she has had several different jobs, she has worked most of her life as a secretary, but now, she is working part-time with Street Sense, although it is still difficult to make ends meet. PROJECT’S OBJECTIVES: The Homeless Voices Amplification Co-op (HVAC) works to amplify stories of unhoused individuals’ past and present work experiences. Recognizing that unhoused individuals are the most valuable source of knowledge on the realities of their employment, HVAC partners with the unhoused to create space for strategic community reflection as a means to further activism for economic justice. HVAC believes stories have the power to humanize individuals and undermine stigmas and stereotypes in ways statistics cannot. HVAC intends to draw upon the power of these stories to create a powerful, multi-dimensional online platform that can enhance efforts to mobilize the community.
