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    INITIATIVE WORKSHOP

    Watch the BRAND West initiative workshop in Bend, Oregon

    Hosted by Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, the second BRAND West workshop highlighted strategies to advance rural, middle-income, and affordable housing development and recommendations to ensure that federal programs function effectively for western states. Key topics included regulatory reforms, attainable homeownership, and resilient housing.

    Watch here
    INITIATIVE WORKSHOP

    Watch the BRAND West Workshop in Salt Lake City

    Following years of underbuilding, underinvestment, and extraordinary growth – driven by a complex mix of factors – the West is facing severe housing shortages. The first workshop of the Western Governors’ Association’s Building Resilient and Affordable New Developments in the West (BRAND West) initiative, hosted by Governor Spencer Cox, examined ways to build more homes by expanding housing options, encouraging innovative funding mechanisms, leveraging infrastructure investments, increasing regional coordination, and planning vibrant, livable communities.

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    GOVERNORS' MEETING

    WGA's 2024 Winter Meeting

    The 2024 Winter Meeting of the Western Governors' Association took place at the Four Seasons Las Vegas on December 9-10. Hosted by WGA's Chair, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, this year's meeting featured Western Governors and their special guests in public policy discussions about permitting reform, health care, the use of public land for housing developments, and insuring homes against wildfire.

    View photos, read a summary
    POLICY

    Resolutions

    Western Governors formally approved five policy resolutions at WGA's 2024 Winter Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. The resolutions represent the Governors’ collective policy on air quality, compensatory mitigation, energy, health care, and workforce development.    

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    PODCAST

    LISTEN: Decarbonizing the West

    As the Chair of WGA last year, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon launched the Decarbonizing the West initiative, which examined how methods of decarbonization can position Western states at the forefront of innovation and reduce the effects of carbon emissions on the environment. In this episode of Out West, WGA policy advisor Abby Pelsmaeker speaks with some of the country's leading decarbonization experts about how these strategies have evolved in recent years and their prospects for the future.

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    PODCAST

    LISTEN: New episode of Out West explores new community navigators program at the U.S. Forest Service

    Community navigators can help raise awareness about available resources and provide technical assistance when applying for grants or other government aid, especially following natural disasters. In this episode of Out West, WGA senior policy advisor Jonah Seifer speaks with Meryl Harrell, the Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture about the department’s newly formed community navigators program and how it can help disseminate funds more equitably and efficiently.

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    WEBINAR

    WATCH: WGA hosts webinar to help align land management and public health goals related to prescribed fire

    In order to identify pathways for increasing the deployment of prescribed fire while also protecting the public from smoke-related health concerns, agency partners in California, Oregon, and Georgia organized exercises to examine the existing policies and procedures for prescribed burns and public health communications. WGA convened officials from DOI, USDA, EPA, and CDC to discuss the lessons learned from these prescribed fire exercises and help future communities better align public health considerations with prescribed fire.

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    WGA Annual Meeting: June 23-25, 2025, Santa Fe, New Mexico 

    News
    WATCH: Oregon Governor Tina Kotek hosts BRAND West initiative workshop in B...
    01/16/2025
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    News
    Best of the West: 9 Western Governors give State of the State addresses; Go...
    01/16/2025
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    News
    LISTEN: New Out West Podcast highlights community navigator programs to hel...
    01/16/2025
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    News
    New Out West podcast episode explores the potential of various decarbonizat...
    01/16/2025
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    EXPLORE OUR POLICY
    CHAIR'S INITIATIVE

    Building Resilient and Affordable New Developments in the West

    By New Mexico
    Michelle Lujan Grisham

    The 2025 WGA Chair initiative of New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Building Resilient and Affordable New Developments in the West (BRAND West), will focus on expanding access to housing in western states.  The initiative will examine strategies to address housing availability and affordability and promote smart and sustainable development in communities throughout the West.

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