From the Winter 2025 print newsletter (PDF):
Habitat on the Hill, Habitat for Humanity International’s annual advocacy conference, takes place every February in Washington, D.C. In 2024, Pikes Peak Habitat sent four representatives: Jennifer, a home repair program partner and wife of a U.S. Army veteran; Karla Probert, executive assistant to the CEO/affiliate advocacy ambassador; Sarah Buchen, volunteer manager; and Tim Trowbridge, board member and chair of Pikes Peak Habitat’s advocacy committee.
Trowbridge also serves on the Habitat for Humanity of Colorado advocacy committee and the Habitat for Humanity International U.S. Policy Committee of the U.S. Council. With his involvement at the local, state, and national levels, he’s well-positioned to explain what advocacy is and why we do it.
“Advocacy is identifying and studying the problem, and identifying and studying who the decisionmakers are that you need to go try and convince that you have a problem that they can help solve,” he says. “Advocacy is about educating people in the government, whether it’s here at the county or city level, the state level, or the national level. And each one is different because they have different responsibilities.”
In El Paso County, for example, he says one focus is on “how can we help get some property tax relief for our families. So that involves, first of all, we’ve got to go in and understand how taxes are calculated, how the assessor’s office does those calculations, then identify what knobs and levers in the process we can ask for adjustments in a reasonable manner. We don’t want to ask for special considerations, per se; we want to ask for reasonable accommodations.”
At the state level, he notes that projects look a bit different. “If you’re familiar with the Colorado income tax forms, there’s charitable checkoffs at the end of the form, where if you have a refund, you can check a box and give money,” he explains. “A few years ago, one of our advocacy things was that we went to the legislature. They have to pass a law to put you on that form, so I actually got to testify in front of one of the committees about why it was important to put Habitat on the tax checkoff list.”
Trowbridge points out that Habitat for Humanity, and its affiliates, has a specific platform and perspective to share with legislators.
“Everybody has a general knowledge of what they think of when you say affordable or attainable housing, but what does that mean in practice, in particular through Habitat for Humanity?” he says. “We have almost instant name recognition. Everybody knows or thinks they know about Habitat for Humanity, but they may not really fully appreciate everything that we do. We talk about being several businesses in one, so there are a lot of ways that policies and legislation can impact us, whether it’s through the mortgage downpayment assistance things, the financial side, the construction side, and then of course now with our ReStores, the retail operations.”
In addition to meeting with elected officials, Habitat on the Hill participants learn more about advocacy strategies related the various aspects of our work. This year, the event takes place from Feb. 11-13, and the theme is “Voices in Action, Building Toward Our Vision.” Probert will attend to represent Pikes Peak Habitat to Colorado legislators. She’ll also present a poster showcasing our 2024 interfaith dialogue, “Who Is Your Neighbor?”—an event that featured officials from the Colorado Springs Mayor’s Office and helped garner Pikes Peak Habitat second place in the H.M King Abdullah II U.N. World Interfaith Harmony Week competition.
