Thurston County’s Homeless Services Advisory Board seeks new members

Thurston Regional Housing Council (RHC) is looking for community members, service providers and individuals with relevant professional or lived experience who want to contribute to regional decision-making around Thurston County’s homeless response system to serve on the Homeless Services Advisory Board (HSAB).

The online application is available at: www.thurstoncountywa.gov/HSAB.  

Applicants must live in Thurston County and be available to participate in monthly meetings. 

The recruitment is particularly focused on applicants who bring:

• Three or more years of experience working within Thurston County's Homeless Response System.
• Experience with budgets, financial planning, or reviewing funding requests.
• Knowledge or expertise in family services, youth and young adult services, homeless liaisons from public schools, faith communities providing homeless services, legal advocates, and veteran advocates.
• Connections to, or perspectives from, South Thurston County and other underserved geographic areas.

HSAB members should be prepared to:

• Attend and actively participate in monthly Monday afternoon meetings.
• Contribute to challenging group discussions, including conversations involving differing perspectives, competing priorities, and difficult funding decisions.
• Participate in the annual Request for Proposals (RFP) review and funding recommendation process. This includes additional time in March and April outside of regularly scheduled HSAB meetings to review and score applications. 

“Serving on HSAB is an opportunity to help shape how regional resources are prioritized and invested,” the RHC said in a news release. “Members bring their knowledge, experience, and perspectives to conversations that directly influence the local homeless response system.” 

HSAB members may be eligible to receive a stipend for attending HSAB meetings, according to the RHC.