Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/1535304
Tackling homelessness Daniel Zavala's work centers around the city he calls home Born and raised in Seattle, Daniel Zavala has built his career around giving back to his community. As Executive Director of Building Changes, he leads a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating equitable responses to homelessness in Washington. Daniel has spent most his life here aside from school at Stanford and an assortment of out-of-state jobs, like teaching special education in New York City's public schools. It was this experience that inspired him to return to Seattle, where he studied law at the University of Washington. "I felt the acute impact of law and policy in the classroom with special education," he says. Aer completing law school, Daniel returned to education, this time as a legislative advocate for organizations looking to increase public funding for learning. Eventually, he happened upon a group working to combat student homelessness. "e person who recruited me told me that if I cared about opportunity gaps and students furthest from the education goals we advocated for, I should look at homelessness," he says about Building Changes. "I was very inspired by the work, and that's fueled me ever since." Daniel started as director of policy and communications at Building Changes in 2018 and was offered the executive director position less than three years later. e year before he started at Building Changes, Daniel joined the WAC. He says the pool earned his membership, but the people kept him coming back. "ere's something special about the WAC," he says. "It brings together generations and different sectors of our community. at's a valuable thing." Continued on page 26 SPRING / SUMMER 2025 25