Fresno Madera CoC:

Lived Experience Representatives

The Fresno Madera Continuum of Care (FMCoC) is a group of stakeholders that works together on addressing homelessness. The FMCoC membership is made up of approximately 65 members that are nonprofits, governments, service providers, healthcare providers, individuals with lived experience of homelessness and more.

The FMCoC has created the “Lived Experience Representatives” initiative. The goal is to match people with current or former lived experience of homelessness with opportunities to work with the CoC to improve the homeless service systems and the policies that govern them, within Fresno and Madera Counties, that people experiencing homelessness use daily. The FMCoC is looking for people with lived experience of homelessness to serve on its Workgroups, Committees, funding panels, and other initiatives as Lived Experience Representatives.

The FMCoC has staff that are running this initiative that work to onboard and involve Representatives in work that meets their interests, skills, and availability. Most of the initiatives and workgroups happen during business hours, but there may be opportunities to get involved outside of business hours.

CoC LE Representatives are not employees of the FMCoC, but LE Representatives will be compensated for their time served with a stipend.

    • Must have lived experience of homelessness, past or present (which includes human trafficking, fleeing domestic violence, etc.) in Fresno and Madera counties.

    • CoC LE Reps can be in any housing situation currently.

    • Candidates who are employed by homeless services agencies may apply for Lived Experience Representatives – but they must disclose their title and agency on their application. If chosen, candidates must participate by bringing their own individual lived experience to the role, not views or perspectives from their employer.

    • The CoC is looking for CoC LE Reps with a wide variety of backgrounds and life experiences and from all over the Fresno and Madera areas, including rural and tribal areas.

  • To decide if you are interested in being a CoC LE Rep, please review the descriptions below of all the current opportunities available. If some of the opportunities look interesting to you and match your availability, please feel out an application HERE or you can get a hardcopy application at any Coordinated Entry Access Site. If you need help filling out the application, please contact: leinfo@fresnomaderacoc.org.

    When you are applying to be a CoC LE Rep, you must agree to abide by and sign the CoC’s Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest forms. All CoC members and people working with the CoC are asked to sign these forms. You will also be asked to review the CoC LE Rep Stipend policy and Attendance policy. If you are selected to be a CoC LE Rep there will also be other forms and policies for you to review and sign.

    All applications are maintained in a queue and are carefully reviewed as opportunities arise. We have more applicants than positions. Should your application be selected to proceed, you will be contacted directly at the email address provided in your submission. If your application is not chosen for the current available opportunities, it will remain active in the queue and will continue to be considered for future roles as they become available, unless you specifically request that your application be withdrawn. Applications are accepted year-round, but we have more applicants than CoC LE Rep roles to assign.

    Roles will be filled based upon applicant information, CoC needs, and availability. CoC staff will do their best to match CoC LE Reps to roles that they indicate in their application that they are interested in or that they are available for. CoC staff will also be making sure CoC LE Reps have a variety of experiences and backgrounds so that CoC LE Reps are providing a lot of perspectives to the CoC. If you’ve participated in CoC work previously, that experience may also be taken into account. We also need a complete application from you to assign you a role – and that includes signing any documents included with the application.

    You don’t need to apply more than once. If the information in your application changes and you want to update it, you can simply email CoC staff to do so leinfo@fresnomaderacoc.org.

  • Your lived experience perspective is your expertise – but the CoC will also provide you with any training you need to serve in your CoC LE Rep role so you can feel confident applying your expertise and making a difference in the initiatives you’re involved in. The CoC is also working with members to see what sorts of professional development opportunities it can provide to CoC LE Reps.

    In addition to a stipend for your time, the CoC will help get you to CoC LE Rep meetings, whether they are virtual or in-person. The CoC can order you a ride share, help with your mileage costs, and provide technology or workspaces. We can also help you resolve any other barriers you may have to get to meetings. The CoC will also have an opportunity each month for CoC LE Reps to get together with CoC staff to debrief about their experience, ask questions, and connect with each other.

    However, you will need to track your time so the CoC can pay you the stipend, and you’ll probably want to meet with CoC staff to talk about how stipends can potentially affect benefits if you receive any benefits. The CoC is flexible in how it pays its stipends (direct deposit, check, gift card, etc.).

    More detailed policies about this initiative can be found here.

  • We have a lot of CoC Lived Experience Representative roles. Please review the description and time commitment for each role, then indicate on your application which roles you may be interested in or available for.

    CoC Lived Experience Representative roles are available HERE.

    For additional information on the CoC Lived Experience Representatives initiative, please contact leinfo@fresnomaderacoc.org.