Testimonials

Building Changes, through their work managing the Washington Families Fund, has become a critical partner in the important goal of ending family homelessness in Washington State. Their passion for the work, their willingness to tackle challenging and complex social issues and their skill at identifying and communicating effective interventions and responses have created a high level of trust from both the public and private sector funding partners who are supporting their efforts.

David Wertheimer
Senior Program Officer, Pacific Northwest Programs
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Seattle, WA

The research, advocacy and convening that Building Changes is doing is truly creating innovative solutions to ending homelessness. Washington Families Fund is a ground-breaking model of a public/private partnership. It allows the Medina Foundation to pool its funds with other sources of funding, including government dollars, to have an impact far greater than if the foundation invested the same amount on its own. Under the strong leadership of Building Changes, service-enriched housing collaborations have been built and are effectively serving the needs of families transitioning out of homelessness.

Carolyn Wall
Program Officer
Medina Foundation
Seattle, WA

Building Changes has been instrumental to Yakima County by providing assistance in helping our community implement projects under the Washington Families Fund and Homeless Grant Assistance Program. It is refreshing to work with an organization that really “Gets it!” and is common sense based when it comes to communications, technical assistance, and overall “approachability”. They have been very helpful in resolving program bumps in the road and actual implementation of concepts.

Tim Sullivan
Housing Specialist
Yakima County Department of Community Services
Yakima, WA

Building Changes did a fantastic job leading us through the process of developing a plan to significantly increase affordable housing in Snohomish County. They did the research and then guided our group to define and prioritize strategies. The staff at Building Changes was very easy to work with, responsive to our shifting ideas, and delivered quality products.

June Robinson
Executive Director
Housing Consortium of Everett and Snohomish County
Everett, WA

Building Changes has provided our HOPWA-funded program with essential training and technical assistance since we received our first HOPWA grant more than six years ago. From formal classroom training for our staff to incidental phone- and email-based technical assistance, we rely on the expertise, experience, and intelligence of Building Changes staff to help us assure that we are consistently meeting the requirements of our federal funders and continually improving our supportive housing services to Oregonians living with HIV/AIDS.

In addition, the Oregon HIV/AIDS Housing and Services Systems Integration Plan generated by Building Changes has enabled us to begin targeting strategic partnerships with Continuum of Care providers and Consolidated Planning processes. We expect to expand our clients' access to these resources significantly over the coming months.

Ryan Deibert, MPH
Program Coordinator
Oregon Housing Opportunities in Partnership
Oregon Department of Human Services
Portland, OR

The staff at Building Changes is a great help when I am in need of technical assistance with any difficult situation. They not only respond in a timely manor, but also with specific links to where the information is documented.

Steven Bacon
HOPWA & HIV Program Support Manager
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Section for Disease Control and Environmental Epidemiology
Jefferson City, MO

In our work, it is not only important to provide assistance but to do so within the limitations or boundaries of the law. Knowing that assistance was just one email or phone call away and that no question would be categorized as too 'simple' or 'asking too much' is an incentive to 'do it right.' However, knowing that my contacts would be willing to go the extra mile, and research and support their opinions or answers with appropriate documentation, was simply invaluable.

Veronica Lopez-Barrera
Section 8 Director
Fort Lauderdale Housing Authority
Fort Lauderdale, FL

With the support and guidance of Building Changes, we have been able to strengthen our programs and increase our capacity as a housing and support services provider in the community—and ultimately, better serve our clients. Given the many challenges we currently face in the not-for-profit human services field, we really value having access to the expertise and hands-on support that Building Changes provides.

Jonathon Berliner
Executive Director
Gregory House Programs
Hawaii's Statewide HIV/AIDS Housing Program
Honolulu, Hawaii