Conference Highlights: Intersections 2018

Grounded Solutions Network’s Training Institute is the go-to place for professional development for anyone starting, administering or stewarding a homeownership program with lasting affordability. Training Institute classes are either full-day or half-day and focus on the knowledge, skills and abilities that practitioners need to be able to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. Facilitated by expert trainers, these classes also include ample time for peer exchanges-- recognizing that sometimes what is most helpful is talking through a challenge with someone else who has been there before.

NEW to the Training Institute this year:

Sessions for more experienced practitioners focusing on risk analysis, data collection and reporting and lending relationships
Topics for municipal program practitioners focusing on monitoring, compliance and enforcement
Sessions for residents and board members on storytelling and advocacy

Lisa Rice is the second President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), the nation’s only national civil rights agency solely dedicated to eliminating all forms of housing discrimination. NFHA is also the trade association for over 200 member organizations across the country that work to eliminate barriers in the housing markets and expand equal housing and lending opportunities. NFHA provides a range of programs to affirmatively further fair housing including community development, neighborhood stabilization, training, education, outreach, advocacy, consulting and enforcement initiatives.

Keynote Address: Desegregating Communities 50 Years after the Fair Housing Act

The Fair Housing Act turned 50 years old in April and we are so far from achieving the goal of desegregating communities and creating racially inclusive neighborhoods. The racial wealth gap—driven in part by drastically lower homeownership rates among households of color—is growing. Racial segregation is as entrenched today as it was during overt red lining. And, in light of all of these serious challenges, HUD has removed references to fair housing and housing discrimination from its mission statement.

This keynote address will challenge conference attendees to think about their role in promoting racially just housing policies and programs that affirmatively desegregate our communities and close the racial wealth gap. It will argue that as policy makers and program staff committed to long-term affordability, conference attendees are uniquely positioned to lead in these efforts to ensure that communities more integrated today and for generations to come.

Conference HIghlights