Stephanie Champion receives the first Raul Reyes Jr. Housing Advocacy Award

She was part of Raul Reyes Jr.’s inner circle of West Dallas change makers.

So it’s fitting that Stephanie Champion became the first person honored with the Dallas Housing Coalition‘s Raul Reyes Jr. Housing Advocacy Award, named for the late West Dallas leader who fought tirelessly for housing rights on behalf of his neighbors.

Reyes had been on the coalition’s steering committee, which created the award this year to honor his legacy. The committee received numerous nominations, vetted them, and passed them along to the Reyes family to make the final selection.

Reyes’ oldest daughter, Dahlia, attended the coalition’s summit yesterday to present Champion with the award. 

In her acceptance speech, Champion noted that Reyes Jr. “was the strongest and loudest champion for our neighborhoods.” 

“Raul meant so much to me, but he also meant so much to our community and neighborhoods in West Dallas,” Champion said. “Raul told me, ‘I don’t really say this about anybody, but you truly represent the Pride of the West Side’ — and as someone who was new to West Dallas, that meant so much to me.”

Champion moved to West Dallas with her husband less than a decade ago. She spent five years doing justice work as an attorney for Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas before joining the team at Builders of Hope, where she is the chief community development and policy officer.

She authored the housing nonprofit’s new Dallas Neighborhoods Anti-Displacement Toolkit, revealed at an event last week before its policy recommendations go before Dallas City Council. Her boss and West Dallas native James Armstrong noted at the reveal his “privilege for me to stand beside you and support you in this work.” He carried a bouquet of pink roses for Champion when he arrived at the award ceremony.