Builders of Hope’s Stephanie Champion honored with advocacy award.
The Dallas Housing Coalition held its inaugural housing summit yesterday at Dallas College’s Bill J. Priest Center in the Cedars, with about 280 in attendance. The event covered a lot of ground around housing affordability. The group ended the night by awarding the first Raul Reyes Jr. Housing Advocacy Award to Stephanie Champion, chief of community development and policy with Builders of Hope.
Reyes, a longtime advocate for West Dallas, died in February at 50. Coalition board chair Ashley Brundage said the group requested nominations and then culled through them before presenting a short list to the Reyes family, who picked the winner. Reyes’ daughter, Dahlia, handed out the award. Champion seemed a bit stunned, gazing at the glass trophy as she spoke about how Reyes supported her from the moment she arrived in West Dallas.
“He left incredibly big shoes to fill, and I will try my best to walk in them and carry on his work on behalf of West Dallas neighbors and our communities,” she said.
