Michael Wallace Email & Phone Number

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Represent municipal governments as a whole before Congress, the White House, and federal agencies with regard to legislative and regulatory actions.Develop effective messaging and advocacy strategies that resonate up and down the intergovernmental continuum.Provide federally elected officials and federal employees with information and advice on "what cities do" and how federal programs perform on the ground.Provide local elected officials and municipal employees across the nation with information and advice on the impact of impending federal actions on their communities.Create opportunities and prepare mayors and other local officials to testify before Congress and regulatory agencies.Serve as an expert on cities to national and local media.Supervise lobbyists advocating for city priorities across the board.ACHIEVEMENTSDelivered a legislative win for cities and achieved NLC strategic plan objectives by lobbying to enactment a five-year surface transportation bill that put more money and authority in the hands of local governments. Created new advocacy initiatives for city leaders that position NLC as the best-connected organization to cities and towns across the nation, including the State Municipal League Directors and Presidents fly-in and the Infrastructure Week Leadership fly-in.Created the coalition strategy and initially authored the annual housing and transportation interest group letter to the Congressional Budget and Appropriations Committees urging increased investment in the Transportation-HUD 302b allocation. Led two major winning campaigns involving coalitions of city leaders and other stakeholders to save the Community Development Block Grant program from elimination under President George W. Bush.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Direct policy and legislative efforts on issues including banking and finance, housing and communityplanning/development, social services, and environmental and infrastructure regulations.Responsible for issues under the House Committee on Financial Services.Compose legislation and amendments, speeches, press releases, statements, and other communications.Facilitate coordination with stakeholders in state and local government, neighborhood associations, non-profit organizations, and corporate partners.ACHIEVEMENTSDeveloped legislation to regulate the for-profit debt management industry. The industry was siphoning clients from legitimate, HUD certified consumer credit counseling agencies. The effort forced the industry to undertake voluntary guidelines, best practices, and improved consumer protection policies.Developed legislation to reauthorize and improve the McKinney-Vento homeless assistance grants program. The Bringing America Home Act served as the base for the Homeless Emergency and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act signed into law by President Obama in 2009.Created a district coalition of housing professionals to address the foreclosure crisis in Indianapolis, IN. Led the coalition to establish an early foreclosure helpline in partnership with the local consumer credit counseling agency, which resulted in a major increase in families granted foreclosure prevention resources.Assisted the Indianapolis Public Housing Agency in their successful application and implementation of a HOPE VI grant to demolish a vacant multifamily public housing property in close proximity to a public school.

Provide food and clothing to indigent and homeless families.Assist homeless clients acquire necessities for employment.Responsible for fund-raising and budget.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

NETWORK—a Catholic leader in the global movement for justice and peace—educates, organizes and lobbies for economic and social transformation.Influence Congress on social issues using a grass-roots membership of over 10,000. Train civic and religious groups nation-wide in grassroots political advocacy.