Housing Champions
Advocacy 101

Hosted by Orange County United Way, join us a training about the state of homelessness and affordable housing, proven solutions, and how to advocate for these solutions. The training also includes storytelling. Please see below for panelist biographies.

Kimberly Adams - Moderator
Housing Advocacy Program Manager – Orange County United Way
Kimberly Adams, Housing Advocacy Program Manager for Orange County United Way, trains, elevates and mobilizes volunteer citizens to be effective voices in their communities for the affordable and permanent supportive homes needed to end and prevent homelessness and housing instability in Orange County.  She was previously the Orange County Regional Organizing Director for California YIMBY, a Volunteer Organizer/Trainer for MoveOn.org, and community organizer for several initiatives and campaigns.  Her experience with California YIMBY included training volunteers to lobby their elected officials around complex California housing legislation while implementing the power of storytelling to change the housing narrative and win the hearts and minds of citizens and elected/appointed leaders alike.  Having personally experienced housing instability in childhood, she merges her circumstantial insight with her history of work in inclusion and diversity practices to remedy the ubiquitous adverse effects of housing instability and homelessness.  Her implementation of the Housing Advocacy Program is informed by her passion and commitment for a more equitable housing future for all residents.  

Tim Shaw
Lead Consultant, Housing Champions Advocacy Network – Orange County United Way
Tim Shaw is a nonprofit consultant, social entrepreneur and social sector leader committed to building livable and just communities for all.  Tim’s professional life in the social sector spans over three decades, beginning in his early 20’s in homeless services. Tim has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation (IPSF), Vice President of Community Relations for Orange County United Way, Executive Director of the Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force and Director of Serving People in Need (SPIN). Tim has led grassroots efforts, as well as national initiatives, including serving as the lead planner for the Orange County Great Park in their successful effort to secure and stage the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon event. While at IPSF, Tim led the team that built and managed the largest public school foundation in California at the time, implementing big ideas such as an annual house raffle that generated millions of dollars. While at the Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force, the regional homeless coalition in the 1990’s, Tim led a collaborative of nonprofit and local government agencies to secure the largest federal homeless grant in Orange County history, an effort that has resulted in over $300 million coming to the region since 1996. Tim lives in Irvine, California with his wife, Denise, a Pilates Instructor, and their rescued mutts, Vinnie and Zoey.