It’s hard to believe that spring is only three weeks away. While I’m no groundhog, I’m willing to bet we may have more snow than flowers in March, but warmer temperatures and spring blossoms are coming, and that means NHC’s April convening, Solutions for Housing Communications is right around the corner. One of my favorite things about Washington, D.C. is that we have a great spring here. The entire city is loaded with tulips, cherry blossoms and empty boxes of Claritin (as an allergy sufferer, I’m here to tell you it’s worth it!) We hope that you will join us here for the only national convening designed for housing communicators focusing on day-to-day communication strategies and tactics for expanding awareness of the benefits of affordable housing and building support for affordable housing policies and other developments.
Breakout sessions not only address communications tools, but also trends housing communicators are faced with daily. Session topics range from digital media strategies to drive social change to communicating to funders and other stakeholders to how to best communicate the black homeownership decline and income disparities . As I have shared in previous member notes, the African-American homeownership rate is lower today than it was in 1968, which is a national tragedy. We can and should do better, and NHC will be working with our members throughout the year to leverage their experience and help develop strategies to close this unacceptable gap in homeownership.
This will start with Solutions for Housing Communications. The dynamic speakers to bring these important topics to light include Bruce Johnson, WUSA9; Katy O’Donnell, Politico; Bridget Lowell, Urban Institute; Meghan Lynch, Rep. GK Butterfield’s communication director; Chase Kroll, Hogan Lovells and Cody Damon of Media Cause to name a few. Our communications team continues to think outside of the box for planning, content and overall logistics to ensure we are continually raising the bar for this one-of-a-kind event.The day offers learning, engaging and plenty of time to network with your colleagues in housing and beyond. You can still take advantage of the early bird rate closing on Feb. 28, 2019 and other details here for registration and sponsorship.
This spring, I hope to see you there.