Helping Leaders Emerge

Happy August, NAHRO family! 

Those of you with school-age children are getting ready, as I am, for their returns to school – buying supplies, running errands, making appointments, packing, and dealing with inevitable last-minute emergencies. Many of you are also participating in back-to-school supply drives and fundraisers for the children of your residents and your larger communities.

 It’s a lot. And our children are worth every bit of it, and much more. We are proud to support your mission to provide affordable housing and support to millions of families nationwide. By making sure they have the housing, education, love and care they need, we’re giving them the best opportunities to build bright futures for themselves, and to become the next generation of leaders.  

At NAHRO, we know that finding and developing future generations of housing leaders will also require thoughtfulness, resources, and care throughout the many stages of their careers. We have our What Home Means to Me poster calendar contest for ages 5-18 and our NAHRO Merit College Scholarships and NAHRO-LDG Scholarships (which include stipends for internships) for college-aged youth. 

NAHRO President George Guy is prioritizing leadership development. He’s established leadership groups on housing and education, and on partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We’ve also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Forum for Black Public Administrators. These alliances will help us raise awareness of affordable housing not just as a necessity, but also as a viable career choice. 

For those in the early and middle stages of their careers, we have our Emerging Leaders group, targeted professional development trainings and conference sessions that provide overviews of affordable housing and community development (HCD) programs to those new to our complicated industry, as well as guides to succession planning and leadership. We also have our NAHRO Fellows – a select group of experienced affordable housing professionals who are willing to serve as mentors and guides.  

I am especially proud of our latest offering for emerging leaders in the HCD field: the ambitious (and already sold-out!) Emerging L.E.A.Dership Program (Learn, Explore, Assess and Develop). This hybrid program consists of six sessions – four virtual, and two in person – starting at our 2024 National Conference in Orlando, Florida and ending at our 2025 Washington Conference in Washington, D.C. The in-person sessions are a vital part of this experience – they allow the learning cohort to meet and learn in person as well as online, and to experience the full range of networking and learning opportunities at NAHRO conferences. I can’t wait to meet our first group of Emerging L.E.A.D.ers in Orlando next month, and I’m already excited about their graduation next March. 

But enough about us. How do you nurture and develop future HCD leaders? I’d love to hear some of your success stories, lessons learned and suggestions for future initiatives – email me or, better yet, tell me about them the next time you see me!  

See you in Orlando next month!