25th Anniversary Awards Dinner

Celebrating 25 Years of Bringing Washington Home

Awardees
Keynote Speaker
Details
Sponsors
Table Captains
Tickets
For the Media

Awardees

The Washington Low Income Housing Alliance is pleased to announce the 2013 Bringing Washington Home advocacy awardees:

Individual Advocate of the Year
Greg Winter

Greg Winter was a key leader in the successful Bellingham Home Fund campaign, which made Bellingham the second city in Washington to establish a voter passed local housing levy. The fund will generate $21 million over seven years for affordable housing in Bellingham. Greg calls it, “the most important and strategic homeless prevention initiative our community has conceived.” After the campaign, Greg jumped right back in to state legislative advocacy. He has testified on the budget, written and generated letters to the editor, collected impact stories, and engaged many others in his community to advocate. Communities in Bellingham and across Whatcom County are better for Greg’s leadership.

Advocacy Organization of the Year
Community Action of Skagit County

Community Action of Skagit County has shown the kind of advocacy leadership that helps lawmakers truly understand the connection between their decisions and lives of people in their communities. The team at Community Action of Skagit County have gathered stories, testified in Olympia, and engaged their board of directors in advocacy to protect services that low-income people in their community count on. Their work demonstrates the value of service providers bringing their unique perspective to advocacy and we are honored to recognize their commitment.

Legislator of the Year
State Senator Steve Hobbs

State Senator Steve Hobbs (44th—Lake Stevens) is a skillful and strategic champion of the Fair Tenant Screening Act. Signed into law on April 24, the bill eliminates barriers to housing for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. It will soon be illegal for tenant screening companies to report on a housing applicant’s status as a survivor, thereby closing a gaping loophole that was allowing some landlords to continue discriminatory practices. As the lead sponsor, Senator Hobbs tirelessly steered this bill through a tumultuous session and we thank him for focusing his efforts on this important issue.

Leadership in Board Advocacy
Imagine Housing

We’re thrilled to present our first-ever award for board advocacy to Imagine Housing. The entire team at Imagine Housing knows the impact that public policy has on their ability to achieve their goal of providing stable housing and creating strong, diverse communities in East King County. They’ve created a board advocacy committee to ensure that the community leaders who serve on their board know when and how to raise their voices. As the Housing Alliance works to engage the many board members of affordable housing and homelessness organizations across the state, we constantly point to Imagine Housing as the model of how to make it happen. We thank them for their leadership and commitment to building advocacy into every level of their organization.

Every year, the Housing Alliance celebrates and recognizes an individual, organization, and lawmaker who have gone above and beyond to advocate on affordable housing and homelessness issues. This year also marks the first time recognizing a nonprofit board for their dedication to legislative advocacy. The four awards will be officially given out on Tuesday, June 11 during the annual Bringing Washington Home event.

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Keynote Speaker

Peter B. Edelman, Anti-poverty Advocate, Law Professor and Author

Peter Edelman is a lifelong antipoverty advocate. Currently a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center where he teaches constitutional and poverty law, Edelman was a top advisor to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Issues Director for Senator Edward Kennedy's 1980 campaign, and a member of President Bill Clinton’s Administration. Prior to working for Senator Robert F. Kennedy, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg and for Judge Henry J. Friendly on the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Edelman made news in 1996 when he resigned from the Clinton administration in protest of the president signing the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. According to Edelman, the 1996 welfare reform law destroyed the safety net. It increased poverty, lowered income for single mothers, put people from welfare into homeless shelters, and left states free to eliminate welfare entirely.

He has since written a number of books and articles. In his latest, titled So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s So Hard to End Poverty in America, Edelman outlines why the income-level disparity in the U.S. is now wider than at any point since the Great Depression and delves into what is happening to the people behind the statistics.

His previous books include Searching for America’s Heart: RFK and the Renewal of Hope and Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men, which he co-authored. His article in the Atlantic Monthly, entitled “The Worst Thing Bill Clinton Has Done,” received the Harry Chapin Media Award.

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Details

The Washington Low Income Housing Alliance Advocacy Awards Dinner is an opportunity to join our state's affordable housing and homelessness advocacy community. We'll celebrate and recognize an outstanding individual, an inspiring organization, and an effective lawmaker who've gone above and beyond to advocate for everyone in Washington to have the opportunity to live in a safe, healthy, affordable home. This gathering is also a chance for you to support the state's leading coalition focused on legislative advocacy and movement building around affordable housing and homelessness issues.

This year is particularly significant, as we're celebrating our 25th anniversary. From our humble beginnings as the Washington Low-Income Housing Congress to today as the statewide champion for housing, we commemorate our many milestones and accomplishments. This includes playing a pivotal role in founding one of the nation's first state housing trust funds, organizing the largest Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day this past February, and our long track record of legislative wins. While our tactics and focuses have evolved over the years, we've always been dedicated to our vision of ensuring more people in Washington have a place to call home. That's why we've picked the theme, "Celebrating 25 Years of Bringing Washington Home." As we celebrate, we'll also use this event to encourage our members, supporters, and allies to dream big and imagine what the future will bring for our work across the state.

Check out our History page for a thorough account of our timeline, as written by former Housing Alliance board member Kim Herman.

To view our comprehensive and ever-growing list of wins in the state legislature, go to out Legislative Victories.