A nation-wide week of local advocacy on behalf of homeless veterans. 

November 12-18, 2017
#OpMainStreet 

Operation Main Street is the first ever NCHV led, nation-wide advocacy push. Much like a Hill Day when members come to DC to talk to their Representatives and Senators about veteran issues, Operation Main Street is a grass-roots advocacy program, designed to bring that same idea to the Homefront. The week of Veterans Day veteran service providers, CoC partners, and clients all across the country will take meetings with Mayors, City Council Members, County Executives, and even state level legislators or executives to tell those elected officials what needs to be done in their own back yard to solve veteran homelessness. These topics of discussion can be anything, from affordable housing creation or preservation, to criminalization, or court barriers. You can even talk about how national level changes in policy affect your communities – whatever it is that you need in your community, you should talk about.

We already have hundreds of people signed up for this exciting week of action! Won’t you join them?

There are no requirements to take part. All it takes to participate is the commitment to schedule one meeting with a local elected official the week following Veterans Day.  

How can you get involved?

There are only three very simple things you need to do to be a part of Operation Main Street:

1. Email your name, organization, and zip code to opmainstreet@nchv.org (if you haven’t already signed up)

2. Schedule and attend a meeting with a local government official the week of Nov 12-18 and let them know what homeless veterans in your community need!

3. Post about your meeting on social media, using the hashtag #OpMainStreet. And remember, a picture is worth a thousand words!

How can NCHV help you?

NCHV is here to help you prepare for these meetings, even if you have never been an advocate before, and help your local meetings make noise on a national scale. We are offering webinars on how to do advocacy successfully and impactfully, and connections to research and white papers to assist you in informing your conversation. The week of the events, NCHV will also be acting as a force multiplier to amplify the message across social media and the traditional press. Each meeting that is scheduled for this week will be important locally – but when seen together as a movement, they are all important nationally.

Training for first-time advocates:

NCHV hosted a local advocacy-focused training webinar on Friday, November 3, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. EST. Click here to watch this webinar training. Even if you have advocated before, you may find this webinar useful. We will discuss strategies for engaging elected officials and the press, as well as basic advocacy tips.

You might find a national advocacy training webinar from 2016 useful as well, especially if you are looking for help with federal advocacy. You can re-watch this webinar by clicking here.

Advocacy support & resources:

Know your way around advocacy, but looking for some resources to help guide your targeting, topics of conversation, or ask? Click here to go to the Operation Main Street advocacy resource page, where you will find research abstracts, data sources, national policy briefs, and targeting help.