Ben Miksch, State and Federal Policy Associate

For a long time, we've known the solutions to homelessness and housing instability. We know it's possible to give everyone in Washington the opportunity to live in a safe, healthy, affordable home. We just need to build the public will to demand implementation of these solutions.

Several years ago, we realized that close to 10,000 Washington board members of housing and homelessness nonprofits represented an enormous untapped resource. This vast network can -- and must -- play a pivotal role in the movement to end homelessness. This realization led to the creation of a campaign to recruit those board members into the growing advocacy movement, the Board Advocacy Project.

As the Board Advocacy Project enters its third year, the Housing Alliance is proud to kick off the next phase of the campaign. After many long conversations with board members, executive directors, and advocates across the state, we've crafted the following three planks of how we can successfully get more boards involved in advocacy:

1. A regular email, titled The Board Advocate solely dedicated to board advocacy. Click here to read the inaugural issue. (And be sure to sign up to make sure you don't miss future updates!)

2. A revamped website with new resources to make advocacy easy and to help boards overcome any obstacles that might arise. Check it out!

3. A new focus on ongoing partnerships with organizations to help them set and achieve their advocacy goals.

We will also be continuing to provide legislative updates and introductions to advocacy during board meetings upon request.

As the project continues, it’s our hope that these tools will help ensure that every board can join the movement to ensure that everyone in Washington has the opportunity to live in a safe, healthy, affordable home in a thriving community.

If you are on a board, or you work with a board, and you're interested in learning more about how your organization can tie into the Board Advocacy Project, please feel free to reach out to me at any time.

One last thing: be sure to check out the interview with Imagine Housing about their successes building advocacy into their board and organization. Click here to jump right to it.

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