Building Changes

“The executive committee is comprised of the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, committee chair and immediate past president. The executive committee makes decisions on behalf of the board when there are urgent issues that need to be resolved or acted upon.”

“Annual form 990 is reviewed and approved by the board finance and audit committee, then shared with the full board at the next board meeting.”

“All board members and key staff are required to review and sign conflict of interest policy annually. Through this process, board members and key staff are reminded of the requirement to disclose all material facts of every actual or potential conflict of interest to the executive director or board chair. Building changes management and the board executive committee have the responsibility to identify related party transactions and real or potential conflicts of interests. All identified related party transactions and real or potential conflicts of interest are presented and discussed by the appropriate committee or full board and are recorded in the minutes of that meeting.”

“The executive director salary is determined by the board. All building changes compensation is based on published salary surveys.”

“These documents are not publicly available.”

“Building changes is a nonprofit organization conducting activities in washington state with the following vision and mission: our vision: communities thrive when people have safe and stable housing and can equitably access and use services. Our mission: building changes advances equitable responses to homelessness in washington state, with a focus on children, youth, and families and the systems that serve them. Our statement on racial equity: at building changes, we seek to hold ourselves accountable for addressing racism and discrimination. Black, indigenous, and other people of color disproportionately experience homelessness due to historical and systemic racism. We cannot address homelessness without addressing racism at its roots and the trauma it continues to perpetuate. We set universal goals to end homelessness and pursue targeted solutions to achieve these goals. Our work in race equity does not stop there. We are committed to building an internal culture that challenges racism within our organization. Our values: building changes organizational values are equity, people, partnership, and integrity. Building changes' approach: we believe communities thrive when people have safe and stable housing. Unfortunately, homelessness and housing instability is a reality for far too many of us, particularly children, youth, and families of color. Systemic failings, inequitable access to services, and lack of coordination between the housing, education, and health systems contribute to this growing problem. Building changes works at the intersection of these systems, advancing racial equity and advocating for change, so that children, youth, and families experiencing homelessness are effectively served and get equitable access to the support they need. Resolving a housing crisis and maintaining housing stability are not possible without this. We focus our experience and expertise at this unique level because it is where we see great need and where we can have greatest impact. Building changes uses an interdisciplinary approach to influence systems, centering racial equity and aligning our work with the needs of people with lived expertise. - we innovate by developing and field-testing equitable strategies. - we collaborate by partnering to build capacity and coordination across systems. - we evaluate by conducting research and analyzing data. - we advocate by pushing to advance equitable, research-informed strategies. 2020 was a uniquely challenging year. We pivoted in many ways, with our staff working 100% remotely for most of the year and taking on significant covid-19 response efforts, as noted below. Yet we were still able to make important progress in our housing, education, and health work. Notable accomplishments in 2020 covid-19 response: student support survey: to quickly identify and respond to the needs of students and families experiencing homelessness during the pandemic, building changes surveyed 500 mckinney-vento and foster care liaisons across washington state in april 2020. We heard from liaisons across 32 counties who pinpointed food, internet access, electronic devices needed for distance learning, hygiene supplies, and rental assistance as their students' top needs. Their responses have helped drive the development of and advocacy for specific resources and additional public funds to meet some of the most pressing local needs. Washington state student and youth homelessness covid-19 response fund: in partnership with the raikes foundation, building changes launched the washington state student and youth homelessness covid-19 response fund to augment existing public dollars and provide flexible funding to entities and communities who work directly with youth and students. By the end of 2020, we had raised $3.25 million and awarded $3.1 million in flexible funding to 192 organizations, schools, school districts, and tribes in 24 different counties. On average, 77% of individuals served by the fund are student”

“Education beating the odds & menu of strategies: building changes published two resources earlier last year to help schools and school districts better support students experiencing homelessness. In february 2020, we released "beating the odds: how can schools and districts support students experiencing homelessness?" a report summarizing promising practices from high-performing schools and districts that show positive educational outcomes for students experiencing homelessness. In march 2020, we published the first iteration of the menu of strategies, a working collection of recommendations for schools, districts, and community partners to better support students and families experiencing homelessness in the state. We pulled together insights from surveys and interviews with school staff, district staff, students and families with lived expertise, and student data from the office of superintendent of public instruction to address topics especially pertinent to students experiencing homelessness and their families. Assessment and building capacity tool: building off the menu of strategies, building changes developed the assessment and building capacity tool (abc tool) to help schools and school districts identify areas to improve their capacity to effectively meet the needs of students experiencing homelessness. With the abc tool, we hope to develop racially equitable and culturally responsive strategies to help meet students' needs. The abc tool facilitates our goal to increase students' outcomes by bringing clarity and structure to how schools and school districts can improve services and supports. Youth ascend wa: to support students experiencing homelessness as they transition out of high school, building changes developed youth ascend wa, a web-based tool designed to connect students with resources that will help them explore options on their path toward achieving post-graduation stability. The resource tool is a collaborative project made possible through interviews, workshops, and focus group with youth and advocates in schools, public agencies, and community-based organizations. Youth ascend wa's goal is to be an inclusive, accessible, and youth-centered resource tool that will help strengthen relationships between providers and students. School/housing network: to provide a peer-to-peer learning space for school district homeless liaisons and local housing providers across washington state, building changes continued hosting a monthly virtual conference. An average of 30 liaisons and providers participate in our monthly call by sharing their own experiences supporting students in their communities and discuss best practices on supporting students experiencing homelessness in their schools. In the beginning of pandemic-related school closures, we increased the frequency of our conference calls to bi-weekly. We did this to respond to liaisons and providers' heightened need to ensure students are still adequately supported despite growing concerns over the public health crisis. The school/housing network is an outlet for liaisons and providers across the state to learn from each other and to collaborate on ways to better support students experiencing homelessness in their communities. Health strengthening advocacy and partnerships:throughout 2020, building changes worked to strengthen our advocacy, partnerships, and efforts in the health system to advance equitable strategies in support of people experiencing homelessness and housing instability. Our advocacy work comprised the following efforts: joining health advocates to persuade the washington state department of health to disaggregate covid-19 data by race and ethnicity; partnering with nutrition advocates to raise awareness and webinars on accessing pandemic electronic benefit transfer (p-ebt) on food; advocating for the continuation of maternity support services (mss); surveying mss providers to learn about their clients' demographics and top needs; and ensuring t”

“Technical assistance for the data driven culture initiative: program service expenses 869,377. Management and general expenses 56,426. Fundraising expenses 21,378. Total expenses 947,181.”

“Cancelled grants and other grant expense adjustments 247,942.”