Beyond the Meeting: Turning Legislative Relationships into Appropriations Success

Description
Many advocates make the mistake of only reaching out when they need money. This session will teach you the art of "year-round advocacy". We will break down the exact steps to identify key legislative champions, engage effectively with influential staff members, and provide high-impact data that makes your funding needs clear and undeniable. Join us to learn how to transition from a constituent with a request to a trusted partner in the legislative process.  

Objectives:

• Recognize the steps to identifying key legislative staffers and officials

• Focus on building legislative relationships

• Discover the power of high-impact data that clarifies your mission and the need

Bios:

Meg Storer, Chief of Staff

As Chief of Staff for 211 San Diego, Meg Storer is a distinguished leader with over two decades of expertise in government affairs, strategic communications, and nonprofit management. Joining 211 San Diego in 2003 as the organization’s second employee, Meg was a primary architect of the agency’s foundation. Most notably, she was solely responsible for the successful CPUC application that secured the official 2-1-1 dialing code designation for the San Diego region, a milestone that fundamentally defined the organization’s trajectory. Her commitment to excellence in service standards is further evidenced by her role in securing the agency’s prestigious Inform USA accreditation awards in both 2007 and 2025, marking nearly two decades of maintained gold-standard operations.

Today, Meg serves as the agency’s keystone, providing high-level guidance to the Executive Team and Senior Staff while overseeing the External Affairs division. In this role, she manages government relations, public relations, and philanthropy to ensure the agency’s social entrepreneurship vision is realized. Her sophisticated navigation of the political landscape has secured critical partnerships with municipalities and first responders, positioning 211 as a vital component of the region’s disaster response and military/veteran support systems.

Meg’s influence extends to the national and state levels through her extensive board service. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Inform USA and has previously held leadership roles as the Vice-Chair of the California Alliance of Information and Referral Systems and as a member of the 211 California Board of Directors, where she championed legislation for statewide coverage. Her commitment to the San Diego community is further evidenced by her board tenures with Zero8Hundred, the San Diego Veterans Coalition, Champions for Health, and the Economic Development Corporation Foundation.

A recognized authority in the nonprofit sector, Meg’s achievements include being named the San Diego Business Journal’s Business Woman of the Year in 2020 and a San Diego Metro Magazine “40 Under 40” honoree in 2016. Her dedication to mentorship and leadership was further celebrated by her induction into the Annapolis High School Wall of Fame. She also received the “Woman of the Year for California District 76” award by California Assemblymember Darshana Patel.

Meg holds a Master of Arts in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from the University of San Diego and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Shippensburg University. A graduate of the North County Leadership and Fieldstone Emerging Leaders programs, she is also a member of the LEAD San Diego Advance class of 2025. Meg resides in North County San Diego with her two sons, where she continues to drive the mission of 211 San Diego as a national model for community resource navigation.

Dillon Cooke

Dillon Cooke serves as the Legislative Director for U.S. Representative Scott Peters (D-CA-50) in Washington, D.C. A native of San Diego, California, Dillon joined "Team Peters" at the beginning of 2021. Throughout his tenure in the office, he has advanced from Legislative Correspondent to Health Legislative Assistant, and now to his current leadership role, where he manages the legislative staff and oversees the Congressman's policy priorities. Dillon holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies and political science from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and a master’s degree in public administration with a concentration in health policy from American University.

Greg Hurner

Greg Hurner has more than 30 years of political experience.  This includes statewide initiatives, assembly and senate campaigns, 15-years serving in roles in the legislature and three gubernatorial administrations, and more than a dozen years as a lobbyist.  Greg combines the skills learned in campaigns with his first-person experience at executive levels in the legislature and departments and agencies to build comprehensive strategies to represent his clients’ interests.