Know Your Elected Officials, the Legislative Process and other Online Advocacy Resources

As important as it is to making your voice heard, it is important to know who needs to hear you.  To find out who your elected officials are, please visit votesmart.org  and enter your mailing address and zip code.  The finder will tell you every elected official that represents you and the legislative and congressional districts in which you reside.

As we fine-tune the message that we want to share with our elected officials on how homelessness impacts the community and the programs aimed at preventing and ending it, we must also familiarize ourselves with the legislative process.

Below is a list of websites and agencies that are important to familiarize yourself with in our work together to end homelessness.   

Federal

• THOMAS - The Library of Congress online – The Library of Congress THOMAS website is the source for federal legislative information.  THOMAS provides several options for finding bills, resolutions, activity in Congress, and schedules and calendars of congressional action.
• The United States House of Representatives online
• • Congresswoman Paul Gosar (CD 1)
    
  • Congressman Trent Franks (CD 2)
    
  • Congressman Ben Quayle (CD 3)
    
  • Congressman Ed Pastor (CD 4)
    
  • Congressman David Schweikert (CD 5)
    
  • Congressman Jeff Flake (CD 6)
    
  • Congressman Raul Grijalva (CD 7)
    
  • Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (CD 8)
    
• The United States Senate online
• • United States Senator Jon Kyl - http://kyl.senate.gov/
  • United States Senator John McCain - http://mccain.senate.gov/public/
• United States Interagency Council on Homelessness(USICH) - USICH is an independent agency within the federal executive branch and is composed of 19 Cabinet secretaries and agency heads. USICH partners with these 19 federal agencies, state and local governments, advocates, service providers, and people experiencing homelessness to achieve the goals outlined in the first federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness, Opening Doors.
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs
• National Alliance to End Homelessness - National nonprofit and nonpartisan organization working to end homelessness.
• National Coalition for Homeless Veterans –A national nonprofit organization that provides resources and technical assistance to community based service providers that provide emergency and supportive housing, food, health services, and other resources to thousands of homeless veterans each year.
• Disability.gov: Connecting the Disability Community to Information & Opportunities
  

State

• Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness
• The Arizona State Legislature – Use this web site as a tool to track pending legislation, plus locate and contact individual legislators, and stay up-to-date on current issues.
• • The Joint Legislative Budget Committee - The JLBC makes recommendations to the Legislature regarding all facets of the state budget, state revenues and expenditures, future fiscal needs, and the organization and functions of state government.
• Arizona Governor Jan Brewer
• • Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting - The Governor's Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting (OSPB) is charged with monitoring and advising the Governor and others with the execution of the State Budget. OSPB begins collecting budget requests from individual state agencies on September 1, at which point OSPB staff begins analyzing each request and working with the Governor and the Governor's policy staff to develop an executive budget plan for publication and delivery to the Legislature.
  • Arizona Commission on Homelessness and Housing - The purposes of the ACHH are to (1) serve as the statewide homelessness planning and policy development resource for the Governor and the State of Arizona, and (2) oversee the implementation and progress of the Housing Arizona: State Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.
  • Arizona Department of Economic Security, Coordinated Homeless Programs - The Homeless Coordination Office plans and coordinates activities and contracts with community-based organizations and local governments to provide services for homeless and near-homeless individuals and families throughout the state.
  • Arizona Department of Housing
  • Arizona Department of Education’s Education of Homeless Children and Youth
  • Arizona Department of Veteran Services’ Homeless Veterans Services Division

Local

• Arizona’s Continuum of Care (CoC) - A CoC is a geographical administrative unit through which federal homeless assistance funds are distributed. Homeless assistance providers in a specific geographic
  area work together to apply for federal funding.  Arizona has three CoCs:
• • MAG’s Continuum of Care Regional Committee on Homelessness
  • Tucson Planning Council for the Homeless
  • Arizona Department of Housing, Balance of State Continuum of Care
• The League of Arizona Cities and Towns
• County Supervisors Association
• Arizona Association of Counties