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Toledo’s own Shardaé Moss has been named a 2025 Our Homes, Our Votes Tenant Fellow by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), one of only 20 tenant leaders selected nationwide for the program’s inaugural class.
Nominated by Reinvest Toledo and One Street at a Time Neighborhood Association, Moss brings both professional expertise and personal experience to her fellowship. Having faced housing instability herself, she understands how survival mode can push civic participation aside. “It can make it feel like our voices don’t matter—or worse, that they won’t be heard,” she said.
Moss has long worked to support unhoused individuals and those with developmental disabilities. In 2024, she served as Project Coordinator for Reinvest Toledo’s Power Tour, an initiative blending art and civic action. Now, she’s expanding that vision with a new project under the fellowship, aiming to equip her community with both voting knowledge and creative advocacy tools.
Through a series of events, Moss plans to use interactive elements like community graffiti walls and artist-led workshops to connect residents with housing resources while also making civic education more engaging and accessible.
“My goal is to help transform uncertainty into agency, and isolation into collective action,” Moss said. “Because when we come together— informed and inspired—real change becomes possible.”
