Rachael Parker describes herself as “empathetic, empowering, and honest.” Those words reflect the values that guide her as a Housing Equity Strategist and as a person whose work is rooted in lived experience, recovery, culture, and love.
A member of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, Rachael grounds herself in family, culture, community, and spirituality. “Family is the foundation for everything,” she said. Her spirituality is also central, connecting the different parts of her life and work.
Rachael sees her lived experience as something that has shaped her purpose. “Our lived experience isn’t so much punishment,” she said. “I think it’s training.” Through suffering and healing, she says, people can come back to who they truly are. “As we heal, as we begin to walk in our own power, then who Creator truly designed us to be comes full circle.”
As a Housing Equity Strategist, Rachael sees herself and her peers as “system changers,” “innovators,” and “disruptors.” For her, the power of the role comes from authenticity. “We just walk in who we are,” she said. “All of these things come to light as we step into spaces.”
That authenticity can feel threatening in systems that are not used to being challenged by people with lived experience. But Rachael believes that simply showing up fully can shift the room. “They have no choice but to not look away,” she said.
Her work is especially focused on relationships and human-centered practice. In Omaha, she once took a personality test that showed she was “all relationships.” That result made sense to her. “The focus in any space that I am is really focusing on the people,” she said. “Ensuring that people are seen, valued, and heard.”
Rachael believes that when people feel safe, they are able to reconnect with themselves. “When you give folks that space and you give folks a feeling of safety, it really brings that out.”
Her journey into systems change began through her own housing problem-solving experience and her involvement with Reimagine, the organization she works with in her community. Rachael is intentional about language. She prefers terms like “housing problem solving” because they feel more human-centered and reduce stigma. “Language is very important in how we talk about our experiences,” she said.
Rachael’s own experience navigating homelessness response, child welfare, and the carceral system revealed how many gaps exist when systems fail to coordinate or provide support. She was able to close her child welfare case in six months and bring her daughters home, something she says is unusual. But she is clear that her outcome was connected to knowledge and support she already had.
“What if I didn’t have the knowledge?” she asked. “What if I didn’t have the skill set?”
That question drives her. She knows many people are left navigating systems for years because they do not have the information, support, or advocacy needed to move through them. “Knowledge is power,” she said. Without it, systems can stagnate people rather than create a pathway of hope.
Rachael challenges the idea that homelessness is an individual failure. “It is a system,” she said. “It really isn’t an agency problem. It really isn’t those that are experiencing it, they’re not the cause. It is an overall systems failure.”
She points to the lack of coordination across homelessness response, child welfare, behavioral health, physical health, addiction services, and other systems. People are often treated as though their challenges are separate, when in reality they are connected. As a person in recovery, Rachael understands this personally. “Because my mental health was so bad, that’s what fueled that addiction piece,” she said. “That was how I knew how to cope.”
For Rachael, trauma is at the root of so much of what people experience. Historical trauma, generational trauma, childhood trauma, and the trauma created by systems all shape people’s lives. That is why she advocates for trauma-informed care and a deeper understanding of human behavior.
She also sees people with lived experience as cycle breakers. “We are changing that line,” she said. “We are breaking those curses. We are breaking all of those traumas just by walking in the way that we are and advocating for our people.”
Even as people with lived experience move into leadership, Rachael says barriers remain. There is still a lack of understanding and respect for what lived experience means. “We don’t need a college degree, because if that was the case, then I’d have my PhD in lived experience,” she said.
She emphasizes that people with lived experience do not enter systems change spaces to take over. “We want to be a part of the change,” she said. “We bring the solutions.” Those solutions come from firsthand knowledge, humility, and the responsibility that comes with surviving.
Rachael’s work is shaped by both formal training and lived experience-led learning. She values trauma-informed care, autonomy, and the importance of giving power back to people. She also describes herself as a “crockpot thinker.” She takes time to process because she wants to respond with intention. “I want to be intentional and give value to what you’re putting in front of me,” she said.
At the center of everything is love. For Rachael, love means “living on valued energy.” It is the foundation of her work and the reason she pours into people who are newly navigating their own lived experience. “All I ever wanted, especially at my lowest point, was for one person to really see me,” she said. “One person would reach out that olive branch.”
Now, she strives to be that person for others.
Rachael’s advocacy also extends to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives movement. She sees a direct connection between housing instability and vulnerability to violence, especially for Indigenous communities. “Housing is the foundation for all things,” she said. Unsheltered relatives are more vulnerable to violence, trafficking, and harm. For Rachael, this is connected to the ongoing impacts of boarding schools, assimilation, colonialism, and cultural genocide.
Still, she speaks with strength. “We’re still here,” she said. “500 years of resistance and we’re still here.”
Rachael’s work is about housing, safety, healing, and survival. It is also about leaving a model for her daughters and future generations. “It really is a fight for our lives every single day,” she said.
Through love, honesty, culture, and lived expertise, Rachael continues that fight. She is opening doors, building trust, and reminding systems that people deserve to be seen before they are judged.
