From the president
Lia Busby, a senior at Bowdoin College, is a distinguished community leader fighting for expanded access to and diverse engagement with affordable housing solutions in her home state of California and her new home in Brunswick, Maine. In the fall of 2022, she was competitively selected for the Student Community Action Network, a small group of students tasked with developing a capacity-building project for a local nonprofit of choice. Over a semester, she produced a workshop with passivhausMAINE that broke down complex building codes and new federal funding opportunities for municipalities and builders across Maine. The following summer, Lia took her passion for housing to D.C. where she initiated a 13-page report that synthesized her home district’s affordability trends and identified gaps in the housing policy and nonprofit worlds. As a result of her efforts, her congressman signed on to four pieces of housing legislation. Today, Lia continues to demonstrate her dedication to engaging a variety of perspectives on community issues through her leadership in Bowdoin’s McKeen Center for the Common Good. Her sustained involvement in the Common Good Grant Committee and leadership in the Bowdoin Volunteer Corps addresses her desire to broaden complex community policy solutions through interdisciplinary, diverse voices.
Personal Statement
I was born and raised in Riverside County, a region of Southern California that holds one of the highest eviction rates in the entire state. Since I was young, I have been aware of my proximity to housing insecurity and am driven to transform our national approach to affordable housing solutions. During my internship with passivhausMAINE, I conducted hours of interviews with the governor’s office, municipalities, academics, residents, and housing activists across the state to inform a workshop on complex building laws. Their common drive toward equity and affordability in building practices, renting, and homeownership revealed a world of collaborative change-making that deeply moved me. As a first-generation student of color, creating a space for diverse perspectives in political decision-making and policy is fundamental in my advocacy efforts. My work with Bowdoin’s McKeen Center for the Common Good in grant writing, development, and volunteer coordination has allowed me to engage with an array of local nonprofit organizations and connect them with students driven to benefit the common good. Most recently, I joined a conference of building professionals and elected officials to share my experience in youth advocacy and mobilization in the affordable housing sphere.