Getting sick isn't fun and it usually sets you behind on work, which is never good. So when I landed in bed last week with a head cold, I decided to catch up on some work-related reading. You know -- all those riveting statistical reports that get shoved to the bottom of the work pile for when you have "time to spare."

On the docket for this sick-induced, day-in-bed was the Washington Families Fund High-Needs Family Program: Baseline Evaluation Summary. As I started reading, a few things became clear: first, through the Washington Families Fund (WFF), Building Changes is doing a good thing by funding nonprofits that help the most vulnerable families in our community. These agencies diligently work to connect families to stable housing and the services they need, help them repair their

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As I stood outside in the frigid Olympia morning, I glanced up at the gray sky. No rain yet, but later we might not be so lucky. I took a deep breath and exhaled, forcing myself to relax. I gathered what intellectual courage I could muster and fell in-step with more than 450 others who, like me, had gathered in our state capital and donned red garb to show our support for Housing & Homelessness Advocacy Day -- to be a voice for continued government funding for the homeless.

Truthfully, I had my doubts as to the true effectiveness of something like advocacy. I know that in theory our legislative representatives care what "we the people" have to say on each and every issue, but let's be honest -- do they really care? Don't they already have their minds made up on any given issue? Can my one opinion actually matter?

Anne Marie Champoux (center) with co-workers, Seth Howard and Margaret Foster, at Housing & Homelessness Advocacy Day on February 12th

Marching toward the Capitol steps in a sea of red, I turned to my co-worker Seth and said, "So be honest with me, is what we're about to do here -- taking meetings with representative's aides, leaving notes for legislators, pulling legislators from the floor to plug our cause -- does all of that really make a difference?" Seth, a former state legislative staffer, looked at me slightly shocked and taken aback. "Yes," he said matter-of-factly, "absolutely it does!" Surprised by his answer, I entered the Capitol Building with a cautious seed of optimism.

By the day's end I knew for myself Seth had been right. In the first place, I learned that politicians are accessible. All it took was the initiative to set up a meeting. Secondly, I had been expecting cold and disconnected customer service. Instead I found genuine interest and concern in the faces of legislators all around me. I observed representative's aides enthusiastically stepping in when the representative was unavailable and engaging in a thoughtful discourse regarding what we had to say about funding for homeless programs. Each one of us really did matter. Each one of us had something important to contribute to the greater conversation.

As a result, I left Olympia feeling as though I wasn't just another face in the crowd, another ant in the ant hill. In the end, as I dashed toward our car, I was soaked to the bone from the rain, but my optimism was in full bloom.

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Talk to your friends, family, or even people who provide services to people experiencing homelessness, and when the topic of employment comes up, many will say to you "those people can't work. They don't have the skills, they don't have the education, they don't have the desire." Sound familiar?

Well, I believe that those assertions are flat out untrue. Programs in our state, like the Seattle Conservation Corps, Washington Women's Employment and Education, and Pioneer Human Services, have demonstrated the importance of job training and placement services for populations with barriers to work for more than a decade. More and more agencies are joining their ranks. In the past couple of years, great progress has been made in Washington State to develop new pathways to economic opportunities

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American scholar William Arthur Ward said: "The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." Despite financially challenging times, committed realists from across the state are diligently adjusting the sails to try and keep pace with the growing need for service-enriched housing. Since January of this year, eight development teams from diverse regions of Washington have been attending two-day sessions of the Supportive Housing Institute (SHI) to learn how to create permanent supportive housing in their communities.

Cheri Fleck and Ann Simpson of Clallam County

The teams participating in the 2009 Institute are a study in geographical and social contrast, representing Pierce, Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Yakima, and Chelan-Douglas

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In the middle of May, just as the weather in Washington State finally began warming up, homelessness providers and advocates from all over the state descended on the Vancouver Hilton for three days of networking and learning organized by the Washington State Coalition for the Homeless (WSCH). We heard moving keynote speeches from Eric Tars of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty and formerly homeless Richard LeMieux, author of Breakfast at Sally's. Several Building Changes staff members also participated in multiple workshops, meetings, and panel discussions. 

Emily Nolan, Washington Families Fund Manager, spoke on a panel called Writing for Dollars, which focused on grant writing basics (and not-so-basics): deciding which grants to go after, leveraging fund sources,

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