Giving Compass' Take:

• Independent Sector talks with Robin Sayles, director of supportive housing at Options for Community Living, a nonprofit based in Long Island, NY that helps give a voice to those most in need find supportive housing. 

• How can philanthropists help families secure housing or drive more creation of affordable housing? 

• Here’s more on the benefits of supportive housing.

Established in 1982, Options for Community Living has been helping those most in need find supportive housing living in Long Island, NY. While starting with those with serious mental illness, Options later expanded to include helping those with HIV/AIDS, high-need Medicare users and those with chronic illnesses.

In 2019, they added voter engagement to their work by creating “pledge to vote” cards and disseminating them at different sites within the community. We talked with Robin Sayles, the Director of Supportive Housing, to learn more.

Q: How do you connect voter engagement to your organization’s goals and mission?

A big portion of why we do what we do is to help people regain independence and community involvement. We believe that being able to engage civically is a big part of that. At Options for Community Living, we work on all areas of life. We work on housing — which we see as foundational. When someone has safe housing, they are able to branch out to other things like a job, family and health. Voting is another extension of that. We have always done work on voting and assistance for these reasons.

Q: What lessons learned / advice would you give to other nonprofits doing voter engagement? 

You have to have the right group of people to spearhead the voter registration project for your organization. I think the people that were on our committee were the ones who were motivated to sell the project.

An education aspect is also an important part of engaging voters. In some of the one-on-one conversations that our case managers have with our residents, it also requires them to educate a person as to why it might be beneficial for them to register or vote. Just asking them to register or pledge to vote doesn’t necessarily convey why this might be beneficial to them. Last year, when we got our grant, we were able to have people directly talk to residents about voting. It opened up the door for this educational part where people could ask questions about voting and have it explained. I think it was part of changing some of our turnout.

Read the full article about connecting voice to policy action by Kristina Gawrgy Campbell at Independent Sector.