10 Nov It’s a New World, but We’re Still Here!
Let’s All Be Part of the Solution…
Message from the NHS President & CEO
Lori R. Gay
On Tuesday, November 5th, Americans voted to have Donald Trump be President again. Many of us knew that voters may ‘swing’ again to try someone and something they felt they kind of ‘knew’ and to see if they could do ‘better’ than they had under the Biden Administration. Whomever you voted for and whatever bond, initiative, or other legislative matter, we’re here to help our clients and partners continue to be “part of the solution”. We’ve learned over time that whoever leads in the White House, our community impact needs to be clear and concise, focused on community deliverables and helping to make sure that every individual and family has equal access, equal treatment, justice and equity. The affordable home, small business and economic development environment is always a ‘push’ for both relevance and inclusion.
How do we achieve more in a conservative budget environment? How do we make sure that the funding is in place that helps ensure that our most vulnerable citizens are not left ‘hanging’? How can we work together to make sure that our seniors age in place with honor and grace? How do we better advocate for ‘being the change we seek’? Do we have opportunity for effective change? Do we sit on our hands, or join our voices together to push power and $$$ into the communities we know need it most?
Let’s agree to continue, now, more than ever to join together, to collaborate to speak truth to power and to remember what the great Frederick Douglas said, “Power never concedes without
a demand, it never has and it never will”. As a person who has to have faith in our world getting better every day, I start over, I get back up and I declare that I need to lean into God’s Grace and Mercy, to servitude, to justice, to doing what is right. I always think about, like our former Board Chairman, Sal Mendoza used to say, “where would our communities be without NHS?” I add…”where would our communities be without each of your voices, your journey, your legacy, your power. You matter and your legacy matters.”
That old song that says, “Don’t Stop Believing” is just as true today as it has always been. “Where there is no vision, the people perish (Prov. 29:18). So, let’s join together to express vision, and build. Let’s plan to advocate and work with a new Administration, while keeping our conversations for stronger commitments going with our local electeds and State Legislature. Together we can. Together, we will.
We should remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King…
”But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce Urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy…. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (Amos 5:24)
In 2025, NHS will celebrate more of our 40 year milestone by collecting your stories, your journeys of triumph, your beating the odds even when others thought you wouldn’t. We’ll restart our Legacy Talks series podcast and hopefully, get many of you to tell us your stories and personal journeys of Building Legacy and why, Home Matters. We can’t wait! Let’s get it done…together. Many blessings as we enter the holiday season.
