5 Questions with Ryan Donohue, Advocacy and Policy Director
This week we announced the hiring of our new Advocacy and Policy Director, Ryan Donohue. You can read the press release we sent out here as well as a story from 560KPQ News Radio, but we wanted to share more about him with our supporters. Because of that, we present the first of a possible reoccurring segment – 5 Questions. Our first guest is Ryan Donohue.
Question 1 – Tell us about you. What’s the vitals?
Its great to be here for this! Obviously, my name is Ryan Donohue. I grew up in Las Vegas, but currently I live outside of Seattle. My parents live out on the Olympic Peninsula and I have more family in the Seattle area. I’m the oldest of two. I got my Masters degree in Public Policy from Pepperdine University and have lived or worked in about 24 different states across the country. I’ve worked on electoral campaigns and issue campaigns and I am excited to be able to help bring my experience in campaigns to this work to help make a world where everyone in Washington State has a place that they can afford to call home.
Question 2 – Why Habitat?
Most of my previous experience is around electoral campaigns. I’ve helped to get people elected in states all across the country, working to make the world a better place. Its an amazing thing to do and has offered some fantastic opportunities over the years. The best part of working on campaigns is the knowledge that you are trying to do something that could make a difference in people’s life. Campaign work is all about using the beautiful system that American Democracy allows us to make a difference in our communities. When I decided to leave that work, I wanted to find something that gives me that same sense of urgency and value. That’s when I came across Habitat for Humanity of Washington State. The opportunity to use my skills in policy and advocacy to help people reach the traditional American Dream of home ownership was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.
Question 3 – What motivates you?
My motivation can be summed up with a fairly simple sentence (that I blatantly steal from a former employer). I am working to make Washington a state where everyone can thrive. When one in seven families are spending half or more of their income on housing, the Cost of Home is too high. When a parent has to decide between putting food on the table or a roof over their heads, the Cost of Home is too high. We need over 165,000 more affordable housing units for extremely low income residents in Washington. That is 165,000 families who are struggling to make it day to day.
Its also important to note that it’s not just facts and figures. Each of those numbers have real people behind them. People like Denise in Tacoma who was forced to raise a family in apartments that were flooding and filled with mold until she partnered with Habitat Tacoma. It is also people like Maria in Seattle who, 12 years later, has been able to continue to live in the community that she helped build, despite suffering from osteoporosis and arthritis, coupled with a handicap she developed after an accident. Why do I do this work? Its to make a world where people like Denise and Maria and the thousands or others have the opportunity to thrive in a home that they are proud to call their home.
Question 4 – What does an “Advocacy and Policy Director” do?
It’s sure not a 9-5 job! My day to day will change by the minute sometimes. Today I had the opportunity to attend a groundbreaking on a new development that one of our affiliates had and I will be popping out to meet with some of our coalition partners to help brainstorm and come up with more ways we can help alleviate this housing affordability crisis. Tomorrow (as of now at least), I’m sticking around the office to write out strategy for our Cost of Home campaign.
More broadly, it’s my job to work with coalition partners, like-minded organizations, and policy makers to help advance policy that will help to increase home ownership in Washington State. I am proud to say that I am working to bring down the Cost of Home for all people in Washington. Hopefully you can join us!
Question 5 – What do you enjoy doing for fun?
I am still finding my way around my neighborhood, so much of my free time is finding all those hidden secrets that exist in every neighborhood, like the creek less than a block away from where I live. I am also enjoy a good karaoke session and have been known to bring down the house with a rendition of Aint too Proud to Beg by the Temptations or Forgot About Dre by Eminem and Dr. Dre. I enjoy camping with my friends – most recently out in the mountains in Colorado. Lastly, I am a huge baseball fan, being a long time supporter of the San Fransisco Giants. I even went to a 2014 World Series game to root them on!