During the Holiday Season The National Union of the Homeless (NUH) comes together across the U.S. to declare: Housing and Healthcare NOW. An End to Genocide and the War Economy! No more death on the streets both here and abroad!

Our Winter Offensive is a series of synchronized actions and protests that take place from Thanksgiving through Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday in order to highlight the time of year when the poor and homeless experience the most deadly conditions and the highest rates of suicide and death.

The following reflection features lessons learned from the Albany NUH Chapter on how the Winter Offensive helped them build their base and organize.

1. Introduction: A New Union in a Critical Season

The Albany Chapter of the National Union of the Homeless was formed in late July 2024—just months before the Winter Offensive. We were a new organization learning how to build relationships, trust, discipline, and shared purpose. The Winter Offensive arrived at exactly the right moment in our early development and became the engine that helped define who we are.

2. Early Phase: Building Relationships and Political Grounding

Before we ever hit the streets, we spent real time grounding ourselves by studying the NUH Mission Statement, working through our Community Agreements, and discussing what these principles meant for the National Union and what they meant for us personally. Leaders shared their stories, which built trust and helped us understand our lived experience as political experience. We connected our struggles to history—studying the NUH legacy, the Poor People’s Campaign, and movements nationally and internationally. This slow, relationship-based beginning created the foundation needed for the Winter Offensive.

3. Preparing for the Winter Offensive: Learning the Meaning Behind Our Slogans

As we geared up for the Offensive, we dug into our slogans and why we say them: You Only Get What You’re Organized to Take, Power Not Pity, and Homeless Not Helpless. Leaders began to see themselves not as service recipients but as organizers and actors in a national movement. This study period strengthened clarity, confidence, and collective identity—key ingredients for building a chapter from the ground up.

4. December 10th: People’s Hearing Watch Party – Realizing We Are Part of Something Bigger

We hosted a watch party for the People’s Hearing at Westminster Church, the same place where we meet after the Thursday morning Breakfast Club. About fifteen people attended from NUH, PPC, and NVMA. When the TV screen came on with boxes from across the country, our leaders were stunned. It was the first time many realized the national scale of the movement they belonged to. Leaders watched people just like them testify, put the system on trial, and speak with power. In the debrief, every Albany leader spoke about the impact of seeing the size and reach of the movement, the diversity of participants, and the clarity of our mission to organize across lines of division. This moment was a major breakthrough in commitment and confidence.

5. December 21st: Longest Night Vigil – First Public Speaking, First Public Action

The Longest Night Vigil was a milestone, marking the first time most of our leaders had ever spoken publicly. Seven or eight leaders shared their stories from a place of power, not charity. Elected officials, allied organizations, and community members attended. The union earned its first media coverage—our first press hit. This event showed our members that their voices matter, that they can move the broader community, and that they can lead.

6. What the Winter Offensive Taught Us

The Winter Offensive was not just a set of events—it was a training ground that accelerated our development. We learned that studying why we do the Offensive builds unity and purpose. Taking public action builds confidence and leadership. Seeing the national movement builds connection and commitment. Telling our stories publicly builds credibility and legitimacy. And doing all of this together builds trust—inside our union and with the community.

7. Impact: A Clearer, Stronger, More Connected Chapter

By the end of the Offensive, our leaders were becoming clear on our mission, committed to the work, connected to each other and the national movement, and competent through real practice. The Offensive helped us move from a newly formed group to a chapter with a growing base, growing skills, and growing community trust.

8. Conclusion: The Beginning of a Long-Term Organizing Project

The Winter Offensive came exactly when we needed it. It transformed our chapter from a small group of leaders learning together into a union that is active, visible, and connected. These firsts—first studies, first meetings, first public speeches, first media hit—laid the foundation for what comes next. As we learned, we only get what we’re organized to take. And this winter, we started to build the kind of power needed to take what is ours.

Discussion Questions:

How can we use this year’s Winter Offensive to continue developing leadership?

What Winter Offensive events are you most excited about?