The Advocacy Update serves to provide you with new and current information regarding advocacy activities as well as provide you with activities that your chapter can incorporate into your regular activities. For questions or comments about this Advocacy Update, please contact Faith Zahn at fzahn@habitat.org or (800) HABITAT, Ext. 2411. Advocacy includes all efforts to raise public awareness of poverty and substandard housing, to increase support for efforts to address these issues, or otherwise facilitate progress toward the goal of eliminating substandard housing.
Educate yourself! The best advocates are individuals who take the time to learn and understand what they are advocating! Take time to learn and research information about poverty and low- income housing. Use the links below to help guide you on your way.
Educate others! At your next Chapter meeting, inform your peers about what you have learned from your research. You can make a jeopardy game or a fun power point! .
Become an advocate for Habitat for Humanity! Log on to www.habitat.org and register to become an advocate for Habitat for Humanity.
Vote! With the Presidential campaigns well under way, it’s important to register to vote. If you are away at school, make sure you apply for your absentee ballot early! Log on to your states department of government for more information. Don’t forget to vote!
Learn about Habitat for Humanity’s 2007 U.S .Federal Legislative Priorities. Habitat for Humanity International works with legislators and housing regulators to increase support for affordable homeownership and for the elimination of poverty housing. Throughout the year HFHI monitors public policy issues related to housing, community development, and international development, and advocates policy choices that expand access to decent, affordable housing worldwide. HFHI’s Legislative Priorities include:
•Increasing U.S. affordable housing production and preservation. Congress should refine existing federal affordable housing production and preservation tools and consider creating new ones. Initiatives supported by HFHI include: •Creating a homeownership development tax credit to expand low- and middle-income households’ access to the mortgage market; •Establishing a national housing trust fund to finance the production, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing stock; and •Repealing the mortgage revenue bond (MRB) 10-year rule to increase low-income households’ access to below-market interest rate mortgages.
Know what is happening on the Hill. This month; the 110th Congress will meet back in DC. It is important to know where your congressmen and women stand on issues that matter to you. One issue to note is H.R. 1302: Global Poverty Act of 2007. The Act would require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day
Let your voice be heard! The Youth Programs Advocacy Toolkit has materials that you can use to start a letter writing campaign on your campus.
Mark your calendars. Upcoming events include:
•October 1, 2007: United Nations World Habitat Day The United Nations has designated the first Monday in October every year as World Habitat Day to reflect on the state of human settlements and the basic right to adequate shelter for all. It is also intended to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat. For more information, visit the U.N. Habitat Web site.
•November 11th-17th, 2007: National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week Each year, the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness co-sponsor National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week the week before Thanksgiving. During this week, a number of schools, communities and cities take part in a nationwide effort to bring greater awareness to the problems of hunger and homelessness. For more information, visit the National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week Web site.
