Last week, the Habitat Washington team had the opportunity to travel to the other Washington – Washington DC that is – and talk about the Cost of Home campaign with our elected leaders. As a part of Habitat on the Hill 2020: We’ve Only Just Begun, Habitat leaders from across the country all gathered to learn about what others are doing to implement the Cost of Home campaign.
It started off with a morning session where our Advocacy and Policy Director, Ryan Donohue participated in a panel along with someone from Habitat San Diego and someone from Habitat Dallas talking about how each affiliate has implemented the Cost of Home campaign and the lessons we’ve learned along the way. Each affiliate leader was able to bring some great experience and advice to the table and we had a great conversation. Tuesday was focused on learning. We participated in a wide range of panels and workshops that covered topics from using data to improve our advocacy to issue spotlights like equitable access to land.
Habitat on the Hill day
Wednesday was the Habitat on the Hill Lobby Day. We headed to Capitol Hill and rallied with leaders from all across the country. We heard from Habitat for Humanity International CEO, Jonathan Reckford and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) as well as many other elected leaders across Washington DC. Following that, we headed out to the hill and begun our series of meetings.
Over the next few hours, three groups of Habitat Washington leaders scoured the Capitol complex meeting with legislators and staff members from across Washington State. We talked about Habitat’s federal priorities including increasing appropriations for Housing and Urban Development programs like HOME and SHOP in addition to increased funding for USDA home loans for rural communities and programs funding Americorps. We also had the opportunity to share with our elected leaders stories from the home affiliates and news of what was happening across the state.
The final meeting brought the whole delegation back together to sit down with Senator Maria Cantwell and her staff to talk about the projects and priorities Habitat is working on. We welcomed the opportunity to talk with the Senator about our projects across the state and thank her for her leadership.
It was a highly productive day and trip to our nation’s capital. We thank all of our elected leaders and their staff for accommodating us and talking with us about the great work Habitat is doing across the state.