Celebrating Our Collective Impact

NAHRO nation, can you feel your collective impact? More than 10,000 advocates sending more than 140,000 letters to your elected officials, telling them how housing and community development programs enable you to serve your residents and your neighbors? From all 50 states and the District of Columbia, we raised our voices, and we were heard. Our advocacy not only tells the story of the affordable housing crisis in our neighborhoods and our nation, but also lets Congress and the White House know how we can help them solve it. Congratulations on an amazing August Advocacy campaign. You are shining examples of intentional collaboration and collective impact. 

Voting is another way that we make a collective impact. That is why I am proud to announce the launch of NAHRO Votes, our association’s nonpartisan get out the vote (GOTV) campaign. NAHRO Votes provides resources to public housing agencies (PHAs) to help them empower their residents to exercise their right to vote. You can find this material on the NAHRO website at www.nahro.org/nahro-votes.  

These GOTV activities are not partisan – they help to empower residents to vote, and do not encourage them to vote for a specific candidate. Looking for real-life examples or inspiration for your GOTV campaign? The NAHRO Votes page also includes a sample GOTV flyer from Legislative Network Advisory Committee Vice-Chair Yvonda Bean, who runs the Columbia Housing Authority in South Carolina.  

Finally, I am excited to join well over 1,500 housers and community builders in Orlando next week for the 2024 National Conference and Exhibition. We have a packed and very intentional agenda for you all, with plenary speakers such as HUD Acting Secretary and past NAHRO CEO Adrianne Todman, hip-hop legend Roxanne Shante, leadership expert and US Air Force retired Colonel DeDe Halfhill, and nationally acclaimed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) educator and practitioner Dr. Michael Benitez. You’ll have many opportunities to learn and collaborate with your peers at 49 concurrent sessions and our networking receptions. We’ll also honor our Awards of Merit winners, our individual award winners, the 2024 cohort of NAHRO Fellows, our National Merit College Scholars and NAHRO-LDG Scholars, and of course the young artists of our “What Home Means to Me” poster calendar contest.  

I want to shout out the Women of NAHRO advisory committee.  AS this year in addition to their annual Women’s breakfast, there will be a track of sessions focused on empowering, developing and supporting women. We are excited about this opportunity.  

I look forward to seeing you in Orlando. We are going to bring it as we celebrate, collaborate with one another; acknowledging the work you are doing to advance the people and the collective impact you are having in serving your community.