Building Changes

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 2021-2025 goals:
• Improve equitable access and experiences for children, youth, and families impacted by housing crises.
• Secure adequate and sustainable resources for the housing, education, and health systems.
• Hold those systems accountable to advance racially equitable and culturally responsive policies, practices, and community partnerships.
• Facilitate leadership buy-in and cross-system collaboration.

HOUSING CRISIS:
• Advance innovative, equitable strategies that help people resolve their housing crises.
• Influence policy and advocate for adequate, sustainable resources for the homeless and housing systems.
• Hold those systems accountable to advance and adopt racially equitable and culturally responsive policies, practices, and processes.
• Facilitate cross-systems collaboration to improve coordinated service delivery.

EDUCATION:
• Analyze and share data and research on student homelessness in Washington State.
• Identify strategies and develop tools for addressing the unique needs of students experiencing homelessness.
• Influence policy and advocate for adequate, sustainable resources and capacity for the education and housing systems.
• Hold those systems accountable to advance and adopt racially equitable and culturally responsive policies, practices, and community partnerships.
• Facilitate leadership buy-in and cross-systems collaboration.

HEALTH:
• Share knowledge on addressing homelessness within the health context.
• Advocate for adequate and sustainable resources for health systems.
• Hold health systems accountable to advance and adopt racially equitable and culturally responsive policies, practices, and prioritization and eligibility criteria.
• Facilitate cross-systems collaboration.

• We are deeply committed to centering people and racial equity not only in our goals and objectives but also in every aspect of HOW we do the work. We are doing the work to hold ourselves accountable for this and are also committed to building an internal culture that challenges racism within our organization.

• We add value by working at the systems-level. We do not directly provide services to people experiencing homelessness. Instead, we work upstream to create change at the systems level whether that be within government, school districts, or health systems. Change must happen at the highest levels to transform homelessness in Washington State.

• We have a unique interdisciplinary approach and skillset as an organization. We collaborate and work with and listen to communities across Washington State to identify gaps in services, practices, and policies; we innovate based on what we learn from communities, we develop and advance solutions; we evaluate what is most effective and for whom through research and data (both quantitative and qualitative); and we advocate and bring the most promising solutions to scale through education and policy.

• We have deep expertise in family and youth homelessness, as well as grantmaking and capacity building. We led the Family Homelessness Initiative, a decade-long intensive effort to create high-performing homeless systems King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. Since 2004, we have led and administered the Washington Youth & Families Fund, an investment of public and private dollars towards innovative housing interventions and strategies that support youth and families experiencing homelessness.

• We have a reputation as a "dot connector" and a track record of working effectively within and across different systems.

• We have demonstrated success in sustaining deep and lasting partnerships with service providers, government agencies, and philanthropy.

With financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Building Changes led the Family Homelessness Initiative, a decade-long intensive effort to create high-performing homeless systems in Washington’s three most populous counties: King, Pierce, and Snohomish. From 2011 through 2020, we assisted in the design and implementation of 79 projects totaling $29.8 million. We are documenting and sharing what we learned through the initiative about making homeless systems more equitable and effective.

We have advanced the practice of diversion, an innovative cost-effective approach that empowers people to resolve their housing crises quickly, safely, and permanently. Building Changes is testing and evaluating this promising strategy in communities across the state — from full-scale implementation of Diversion in remote Asotin County to Diversion over the phone and Diversion paired with Maternal Support Services in Pierce County and the Centralized Diversion Fund in King County.

Through our efforts to address student homelessness, we have provided in-depth data analysis on academic outcomes for students experiencing homelessness statewide, created a comprehensive data dashboard on student homelessness in Washington, and developed research-based practices and recommendations to help schools and districts support students and families experiencing homelessness.

Our statewide policy and advocacy efforts, in concert with those of our allies, have bolstered public investments in the Homeless Student Stability Program and Washington Youth & Families Fund; increased funding for Diversion statewide through the Department of Commerce; supported and provided leadership for Project Education Impact, a statewide coalition focused on increasing educational equity for young people experiencing homelessness and/or foster care; helped extend the statewide eviction moratorium to support children, youth, and families experiencing housing crises during the pandemic; and helped pass new legislation that provides critical support for pregnant and postpartum persons experiencing homelessness and others on Medicaid.

In partnership with the Raikes Foundation, we launched the Washington State Student and Youth Homelessness COVID-19 Response Fund, which raised $4.1 million in private donations that was awarded as flexible funds to 199 organizations, schools, school districts, and tribes in 25 counties across the state.

Our leadership and administration of the Washington Youth & Families Fund has resulted in the investment of additional public and private dollars towards innovative housing interventions and strategies that support youth and families experiencing homelessness. To date, we have awarded $62.7M in funding to 122 grantees—including two tribes—across 26 counties.