Damon Talbot is a lived experience leader, advocate, and Operations Director with Unsheltered Utah in Salt Lake City. His work is rooted in the belief that people closest to homelessness must be part of shaping the systems, programs, and community responses meant to serve them. 

Damon spent many years experiencing homelessness and understands how difficult it can be to break out of that cycle without meaningful connection, trust, and community. His path changed through his connection to the Clubhouse Model, where he found belonging, purpose, and a renewed sense of personal worth. That experience helped him move from surviving homelessness to rebuilding his life, and it continues to shape the way he shows up in his work today. 

Since then, Damon has helped lead direct service efforts for unsheltered neighbors in Utah, including emergency winter shelter response, case management development, and the creation of new community-based day program models. His approach combines practical operations, frontline problem solving, and a deep commitment to dignity, belonging, and trust. 

As a member of the National Alliance to End Homelessness Community Strategic Team, Damon hopes to help strengthen the role of lived experience in policy, program design, and national conversations about homelessness. He is especially passionate about unsheltered homelessness, peer leadership, community connection, and building systems that do not just manage homelessness, but help people move toward stability, purpose, and belonging.