At last week's all-member meeting, our partners at public affairs and strategic communications firm Apparatus gave an update on the strategic planning process. If you missed the meeting, below is a summary from Leili Fatehi and Laura Monn Ginsburg of Apparatus. 

In case we haven’t yet met, hello! We’re the team from Apparatus that’s been brought on to work with Homes for All on strengthening the coalition and winning at the Capitol. We’re a women-owned public affairs practice and general benefit corporation that has a mission-level commitment to advancing a more just society.

Our work with Homes for All started in August and will go into early 2020. Our work includes:

• Assessing Homes for All’s current structures, practices, and processes and recommending changes and improvements that better support near- and long-term successes
• Informing and offering recommendations for building power both internally and through strategic outreach and engagement
• Assessing and recommending improvements to how Homes for All’s policy agenda is created and implemented

This work is being tackled through four interrelated components: Strategic Mapping, Governance, Policy Development, and Power Building. For many more details, please refer to the presentation slides from Wednesday’s member meeting. Here is a brief summary of each:

Strategic Mapping – Creating a power and stakeholder analysis so that Homes for All can make the best decisions about how, where, and when it takes action

Governance – Building recommendations that ensure the coalition’s structure, processes, and procedures can grow and adapt to support the scale, scope, and diversity of membership, opportunities, and objectives

Power Building – Identifying what kinds of power Homes for All has, lacks, and can amplify

Policy Development – Developing processes by which Homes for All can establish a policy platform that encapsulates members’ shared policy issues and legislative session-specific policy agenda-setting

These elements are very interrelated so it’s all happening somewhat simultaneously. We are meeting with legislators and staff at the Capitol, working with the Homes for All Coordinating Team, getting feedback from members (through avenues like the Wilder Survey and this week’s member meeting), and researching other coalitions both in and out of Minnesota.

We’ll be back with more updates as the project continues. We intend to have another member meeting sometime in December to present our findings and recommendations and get member feedback as we close in on our final reports and processes for the coalition.

You don’t need to wait until December to get in touch, however! Please feel free to reach out by email or phone if you have ideas, questions, or other feedback about the project. You can call us at 612.440.0077 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..