Homes for All Blog

At last week’s all-member meeting, our partners at public affairs and strategic communications firm Apparatus gave an update on the strategic planning process. If you missed the meeting, below is a summary from Leili Fatehi and Laura Monn Ginsburg of Apparatus. 

In case we haven’t yet met, hello! We’re the team from Apparatus that’s been brought on to work with Homes for All on strengthening the coalition and winning at the Capitol. We’re a women-owned public affairs practice and general benefit corporation that has a mission-level commitment to advancing a more just society.

Our work with Homes for All started in August and will go into early 2020. Our work includes:

• Assessing Homes for All’s current structures, practices, and processes and recommending changes and improvements that better support near- and long-term successes
• Informing and offering recommendations for building power both internally and through strategic outreach and engagement
• Assessing and recommending improvements to how Homes for All’s policy agenda is created and implemented

This work is being tackled through four interrelated components: Strategic Mapping, Governance, Policy Development, and Power Building. For many more details, please refer to the presentation slides from Wednesday’s member meeting. Here is a brief summary of each:

Strategic Mapping – Creating a power and stakeholder analysis so that Homes for All can make the best decisions about how, where, and when it takes action

Governance – Building recommendations that ensure the coalition’s structure, processes, and procedures can grow and adapt to support the scale, scope, and diversity of membership, opportunities, and objectives

Power Building – Identifying what kinds of power Homes for All has, lacks, and can amplify

Policy Development – Developing processes by which Homes for All can establish a policy platform that encapsulates members’ shared policy issues and legislative session-specific policy agenda-setting

These elements are very interrelated so it’s all happening somewhat simultaneously. We are meeting with legislators and staff at the Capitol, working with the Homes for All Coordinating Team, getting feedback from members (through avenues like the Wilder Survey and this week’s member meeting), and researching other coalitions both in and out of Minnesota.

We’ll be back with more updates as the project continues. We intend to have another member meeting sometime in December to present our findings and recommendations and get member feedback as we close in on our final reports and processes for the coalition.

You don’t need to wait until December to get in touch, however! Please feel free to reach out by email or phone if you have ideas, questions, or other feedback about the project. You can call us at 612.440.0077 or email Laura or Leili.

Don’t forget, the deadline for proposals to amend Homes for All’s legislative agenda is Monday, October 7th, at 5:00 pm. The proposal for amendment application is available here, and applications must include a completed Core Values Assessment form.

Amendment proposals will be presented at the Homes for All Policy Team meeting on Tuesday, October 15th,from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers. For more information, follow this link to an overview of the policy amendment proposal process, or contact Policy Co-Chairs Kari Johnson or Libby Murphy with questions.

Every other fall, Homes for All adopts a biennial legislative agenda after an intensive policy proposal review process. The coalition’s recently adopted new bylaws allow for the legislative agenda to be amended in alternating years. The application for proposals to amend the legislative agenda is now live!

Follow this link to learn more, including how the amendment process works, the application process timeline, tips for submitting a proposal, and to access the application itself. You’ll also find a list of frequently asked questions about the amendment process. The deadline for submissions is October 7 at 5:00 pm. 

Say hello to Pastor Sue Koesterman, Homes for All’s new Co-Chair!

Pastor Sue is a native of the Fargo/Moorhead area. She majored in Philosophy at MSUM in Moorhead and graduated with a Masters in Divinity from Luther Seminary in 2006. Pastor Sue served as pastor at Elim Lutheran Church in downtown Fargo for 10 years prior to accepting her current call as Chief Executive Officer at Churches United for the Homeless in Moorhead. While serving at Elim, she worked closely with others in the community to organize the FM Sheltering Churches Project, which provided seven seasons of emergency overnight winter shelter in church buildings throughout the community as a supplement to shelter capacity. She continues to be very active as a community organizer and advocate on behalf of those who are struggling with homelessness and poverty. In February of 2018, Churches United for the Homeless completed construction of the Bright Sky Apartments in Moorhead, which provide 43 units of Permanent Supportive Housing. In January of 2019, the FM Dorothy Day House of Hospitality and the Dorothy Day Food Pantries merged with Churches United for the Homeless. The organization currently employs 50 team members across five sites, serving approximately 465 persons each day by providing safe shelter, stable housing, nutritious food, and a path towards healing. Pastor Sue resides in Moorhead with her husband, Mike. Together they have raised five children. In recent years they have been blessed with three grandchildren, all of whom live nearby! 

Pastor Sue will join Allison Streich as Co-Chair of Homes for All. The co-chairs lead the coalition, representing different aspects of the housing continuum from homelessness to affordable housing. Welcome, Pastor Sue!