Pre-Conference Sessions

 

Wednesday, Nov. 17
9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.

 

Take advantage of these pre-conference sessions to further your professional development experience!  Fees for pre-conference sessions are $85 (lunch included) and are in addition to conference registration fees.  Workshops are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so register early!

 

Everyone Deserves Fair Housing

We live and work in a diverse world and each person has different needs.  Even with our differences, our lives still merge to form the communities that tie us together. And our communities are changing every day. This session will focus on how the law protects our differences and ensures that even through change the right to fair, equal, and accessible housing remains constant. Engage in a dynamic learning experience about the impact and opportunities of Fair Housing legislation while you earn your Fair Housing Certification.

 

Community Land Trusts Preserving Affordable Homeownership

A community land trust is a creative tool that it can be used effectively even with the uncertainty of current market trends and still protect long-term affordable homeownership. Even with this versatility, community land trusts are often underutilized and misunderstood. Join in an engaging exchange with experts and practitioners from around the nation as they share their practical experience and lessons learned in an interactive workshop that will explore a range of models, particularly those models that could work in Virginia. Learn what it takes to set up and manage this type of land trust, even after residents have purchased their homes. Participants will learn how to identify the resources and potential partners necessary to explore the creation of this important affordable housing instrument.

 

Fine-Tuning the Roadmap for Your Organization’s Future

Most nonprofit organizations are launched with a driving social purpose and operational concept tailored to meet an important need in their communities.  While social worth and community focus are valuable community assets, organizations can’t operate in a vacuum.  Nonprofits are impacted by the trends and cycles of both internal and external influences. Community demographics change, economic downturns can create new need, operational expertise can grow or shrink, competition can affect the landscape, the mission may blur, and funders’ appetites may shift.  In this session, participants will interact directly with others who have had to make strategic course corrections that successfully focused work activities, adjusted the scale of impact, and changed organizational structure.  Participants will also have the opportunity to engage in an assessment exercise that will help them to view the future of their organizations in an entirely new way!

 

The Blueprint for a Successful EarthCraft Project

Since 2006, more than 29 multifamily renovation projects have been certified in EarthCraft House Renovation programs, representing more than 1,722 housing units. While renovations are the greenest example of housing development because they conserve resources and minimize landfill waste, they may have the most difficult time meeting the EarthCraft requirements. Design means everything! Similarly, adaptive re-use and even single family projects can often offer unique challenges.  Each EarthCraft project has its own specifications and requirements. This session will help you to navigate through the criteria necessary to meet certification in current or anticipated projects.  You will learn how to avoid common pitfalls and what it takes to successfully leverage other resources, such as historic tax credits, into a blueprint for EarthCraft success!