Written by Cory Wolbach
This month, I’m using this space to double-down on encouraging you to nominate someone to the 2026 Cohort of our Civic Leadership Program.
We know some of our elected and appointed leaders are not dedicated to housing justice. We know some of our elected and appointed leaders aren’t exactly open minded on housing policy. We know some of our elected and appointed officials support policies that defund affordable housing and criminalize homelessness. We know some of our elected and appointed leaders, even if they agree that housing is a top priority and know what we should do about it, aren’t as effective as we need them to be.
This is, to put it mildly, incredibly frustrating. Infuriating. Enraging. Disheartening. Unacceptable.
That’s why, alongside education and advocacy, we need to make sure we have good people ready to step in and seize positions of power and influence where they can shape the future of housing policy and practices in their city and throughout our region.
When I ran for office in 2014, I had to learn a lot very quickly. That’s true for most candidates. I learned a lot the easy way: asking people who had done it before. I also learned a lot the hard way: by making mistakes. Through our Civic Leadership Program, we want to help the next wave of local leaders learn as much as they can the easy way. We want to save them time so they can focus on leveling up their knowledge and skills, building their networks, and getting to work. We want them to start on the right foot when they decide to run for office, serve on a campaign team, or apply for a board of commission.
So, whom do you know who would benefit from that? Send them our way! Some of the best leaders we have today didn’t ever imagine themselves taking on leadership roles in local government and politics until someone they respected asked them to. Encouragement matters. Nominations change how people see themselves.
Would you like to participate in the Civic Leadership Program yourself? Ask someone to nominate you! When you apply or run for an appointed or elected office, or work on a campaign, you’re going to have to ask people for help and support. Consider this practice.
We depend on our network — you — to help us connect with and lift up the best people in our community.