The Unsheltered Manifesto

We are the Unsheltered. The rebellious. Seekers of hard truths. Believers in second chances. And third chances. Believers in not even counting chances in the first place.

We are the open-minded. We will not shelter ourselves from the way things are—because what could be is only clear when you know where to start. People aren’t “good” or “bad.” Animals aren’t “good” or “bad.” But even after 100 years of shelters, something between people and animals still isn’t working.

Shelters are drop-off points when they could be launchpads for conversations. Shelters are making binary life-or-death choices when they could be creating systemic, community-wide change. We’re here to talk about things that we know work and to discover new ones—but we need you in the conversation.

We are right here with you—you thinkers, you doers, you changers, you rebels with hearts-too-big-to-handle. This isn’t about our shelter or anyone else’s. This is about every neighborhood. Every community. Every animal. Every human.

We are Friends For Life. Let’s rally the humans. Be Unsheltered.