Legislative Advocacy: State Advocacy
Recognizes agencies demonstrating the most efficient, effective, and creative use of resources to achieve state legislative objectives.
Judging Criteria
Legislative Advocacy entries will be judged on the degree to which they:
- Advance the overall mission of the agency
- Are innovative
- Are replicable
- Demonstrate coalition building
- Forge effective relationships with state and/or federal legislators
- Achieve strategic objectives
- Anticipate, identify, and prioritize legislative issues
- Reach target audiences
- Employ analytical skills to anticipate and identify the potential ramifications of issues
- Provide benefits that outweigh costs
- Demonstrate effective use of resources
If you have questions, please email awards@ncsha.org or call 202-624-7710.
2021 Winner
MaineHousing
2021 Entries
Delaware State Housing Authority:
Securing State Funds to Provide Mortgage Assistance
To help homeowners during the challenging financial times created by the pandemic, DSHA successfully lobbied state legislators and other officials for a funding commitment to revamp our existing foreclosure prevention program and provide financial assistance for homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
Florida Housing Finance Corporation:
Florida Housing: Effective Advocacy in the Sunshine State
Prior to and during the COVID-19 Pandemic, affordable housing support proved to be even more essential whether through increasing our rental stock or helping citizens stay in place and avoid eviction. During this past year Florida Housing was able to pivot to a virtual platform; work with stakeholders and communicate legislators to ensure state funding for multifamily new construction. We received $115 million from the State Legislature for our continued affordable housing efforts.
MaineHousing:
The Long Game
MaineHousing staff found a thread of political will in a 2017 bill that was doomed to fail - and had the political acumen and relationships necessary to weave that thread into legislation that even the most skeptical lawmakers could get behind. The result? Maine doubled its capacity to build affordable housing. As anyone in the affordable housing field will tell you: building housing is not cheap and it’s not built overnight. This is about the long game.
