SDHP Conference - Housing as a Human Right

Conference Speaker Biographies

Allie Cannington
Senior Manager, Advocacy and Organizing at The Kelsey

From the Bay Area, Allie Cannington is a white, Jewish, queer, disabled activist and organizer. Since gaining access to movements for disability rights and justice over ten years ago, Allie has organized people with disabilities on local, state, and national levels, always centering on people with disabilities who live at the margins, including LGBTQIA, Black, Indigenous, people of color, low/no income, and youth with disabilities. As Senior Manager, Allie leads The Kelsey’s policy and advocacy efforts to advance disability-forward housing solutions at the state and federal levels.  As Allie also spearheads community engagement initiatives for our housing pipeline, they work to ensure that the change we create is co-led by diverse and multiply marginalized disabled people. Within and outside of The Kelsey, Allie’s work is ultimately dedicated to unveiling everyone’s proximity to disability and to fueling justice movements that are intersectional, sustainable, and intergenerational.

Honorable Vincent J. Hughes
Pennsylvania State Senator

Senator Vincent J. Hughes represents the 7th Senatorial District in Pennsylvania and serves as the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, a position he has held since 2011. He has served in the Senate since November, 1994. He served as a Pennsylvania State Representative from 1987-1994. From 1991-1994, he chaired the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus. Senator Hughes has a career long commitment to providing health insurance for the uninsured and his leadership, public advocacy, and legislative strategy led to Pennsylvania’s full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Senator Hughes was a leader in the fight to raise the state minimum wage. He is a leader in the fight for paid sick leave, and a leader in creating housing for veterans and survivors of domestic violence. Senator Hughes, a champion for neighborhood economic development, is currently introducing a comprehensive "Marshall Plan" for housing and urban revitalization. Senator Vincent Hughes is a trustee of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, and is supported by his loving wife, actress, entertainer and activist Sheryl Lee Ralph, and their blended family of four children.