Don’t Forget the Pets (DFTP), our collaborative project with Greater Good Charities, had an exciting year supporting human and animal service providers across the country to implement a pet housing program of their own. With help from PetSmart Charities, expanding our library of shareable resources, redesigning our website, and hosting more in-person and virtual training opportunities than ever before, we helped more organizations create effective and sustainable housing programs for people and pets in crisis.
Our in-demand Coaching Program took off in 2023, with a record 37 organizations signing up to receive personalized support from our team. Recipients received a wide range of services including design and construction expertise, budgeting help, and policy-writing guidance.
We connected with organizations doing incredible work for people and pets in crisis, such as domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, family justice centers, animal shelters, and veterinary clinics. With such a range of backgrounds and programming needs in our community, DFTP’s new Guest Presentation Series became a beneficial way to share information on a variety of important topics. We are thrilled to continue the series into 2024, sharing knowledge, experiences, and amplifying voices from advocates across the United States.
The DFTP training workshop has been a staple event since the very beginning with over 1,000 attendees since our inception in 2019. We spend the day discussing the impact of the human-animal bond, diving deep into the ins and outs of pet programming, and share challenges and successes. We know how valuable this training is, with a whopping 84% of 2023 Safe Housing grantees having taken a workshop. Relationship-building and togetherness are crucial in education, so in 2023 we TRIPLED the number of in-person workshops provided across the country, making this our biggest training year yet!
Where we’ve been in 2023 and early 2024:
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Denver, Colorado
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Springfield, Illinois
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Hamilton, New Jersey
- Fort Worth, Texas
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
Join us in 2024:
- Virtual via Zoom in April
- Elkton, Maryland in April
- Chesapeake, Virginia in June
- Birmingham, Alabama in July
