When a person loses their home, they experience trauma and grief. Their pet may be their sole source of love and support. For a person experiencing homelessness, losing their pet can make one of the most difficult times in their life even more painful. Yet, with few emergency facilities offering pet-inclusive housing, it’s a decision so many people feel forced to make.

Maddie’s Fund^® is a proud sponsor of My Dog Is My Home’s Conference 2025: Why Pets? Why Now? The Urgency of Inclusion. Taking place virtually from March 25-27, this year’s conference aims to increase access to pet-inclusive emergency and long-term housing through workshops, webinars, stories of lived experience, art, community networking and more.

A win-win-win for people, animals and service providers—pet-inclusive housing:

• Supports humans’ mental, emotional and physical health
• Saves hard-to-adopt animals from languishing or being euthanized in shelters
• Frees space in animal shelters that are beyond their capacity

You can view the lineup of over 50 speakers. This year’s presentations include:

• Dr. Kwane Stewart – CNN Hero of the Year & Instagram’s @thestreetvet
• Joy Moses – VP of Research and Evidence at the National Alliance to End Homelessness
• Lori Weise – Subject of the book Rethinking Rescue & CNN Hero
• Holly Henning – Executive Director of Women’s Advocates
• Co-Sheltering 101 – Step-by-step guidance from leading pet-inclusive emergency shelters: URI & Father Joe’s Villages

Register today and be a part of the powerful movement driving systemic shifts to support the human-animal bond in homeless services. The entire conference is online, so there are no associated expenses beyond registration. You can also complete this form to apply for financial assistance, #ThankstToMaddie. The scholarship application portal will close on March 2, 2025 at 9PM ET. We hope to see you there!