With a new year comes new challenges and goals. As most of you know, Governments, now more than ever, face pressure and have been tasked with accelerating their technological journey by Treasury and HUD.  Leveraging new technology has many well-known benefits for state and local governments – it can increase efficiency, improve compliance and security, and reduce costs. These tools can help organizations quickly migrate workloads, create consistent infrastructure, and scale services with no downtime.

In this episode, Dr. Adrienne Holloway, Ph.D., the former Executive Director for the Community Services Department of Harris County Texas, shares best practices and insight on how to successfully administer Treasury and HUD programs…and why technology is so critical in carrying that out.

Our guest speaker in Episode 7 is Darwin Wade, Area Redevelopment Manager (Housing & Neighborhood Revitalization) for the City of Dallas, Texas.  In this episode, Mr. Wade shares best practices and innovative approaches on how the city uses its program dollars to maximize community impact during, and as we emerge from, the pandemic.

The City of Dallas is making a huge impact in its community through the Home Repair, Homebuyer Assistance (DHAP), Land Bank, Land Bank/Land Transfer, Asset Management, New Development, and Single-Family Income Verification programs.  They have been our 'Neighbor' since 2019, and have leveraged Neighborly Software’s platform to distribute $45,784,551 in program allocations to date.

Discussion Topics:

*Industry trends and key insights for HOME – ARP allocations

*Strategies and best practices for administering program funding

*Program pitfalls and how to navigate them

*Emerging trends amongst governments now that we are slowly coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic

To learn more about the City of Dallas's program initiatives, visit Welcome to the City of Dallas, Texas (dallascityhall.com)

In this episode, our guest speaker, Josh Shumaker, the Director of Advocacy and Federal Programs for the Council of State Community Development Agencies (COSCDA), shares some key insights on how states advocate for Community Development, Affordable Housing & Disaster Recovery -MIT programs at the State Level.

COSCDA represents the role of states as the premier voice of authority to Congress and federal agencies.  It facilitates critical leadership in the development of funding; legislative and regulatory strategies, and implementation and programmatic issues related to housing, economic, community development, and disaster recovery programs with federal policymakers.

Discussion Topics/Questions:

*COSCDA’s current advocacy and legislative initiatives

*COSCDA’s efforts to promote streamlined administration of Federal Compliance Standards

*Disaster Recovery & MIT program funding for Hurricane Ian

*CDBG and HOME programs – regulatory recommendations to HUD

*The potential for both statutory and regulatory changes to the HOME program

*Best practices for distributing Affordable Housing & Disaster Recovery -MIT program funds

*Key insights on the finalization of the FY22 Budget and what that looks like for State Community Development Agencies

To learn more about COSCDA, please visit COSCDA | Council of State Community Development Agencies

When it comes to disaster recovery, getting money into the hands of those that need it is more important now than ever before. In addition to the pandemic, natural disasters add stress to our communities and the need to disburse critical funding essential to recovery and rebuilding.  In this episode, our guest speaker, Jennifer Butler, Director of Disaster Management & Recovery for Postlethwaite & Netterville, shares key insights and strategies on how government and non-profit organizations can effectively manage and disburse disaster recovery funds to drive targeted outcomes in their communities.

Discussion topics include:

* Disaster Recovery program pitfalls and how to navigate them.

*The unique challenges governments face when helping communities recover from disasters

*Best practices for aligning DR organizational and operational resilience, and regulations in-between

*Emerging trends among governments now that we are slowly coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic

*Key lessons learned regarding risk mitigation when deploying large-scale disaster recovery programs

*Roadblocks regarding progress reporting and compliance for large, diverse recovery programs and how to address them

For more information about Jennifer Butler and P&N, visit Postlethwaite & Netterville (P&N ) | Louisiana - Mississippi - Texas CPA (pncpa.com).

In Episode 4, we’re discussing Navigating the Challenges of HUD Program Management.  Our guest speaker, Elizabeth McNannay, shares key insights on some of the most significant hurdles government entities face today. As many of you know, this is a hot topic as jurisdictions across the country have been hit hard by employee burnout and high turnover, loss of institutional knowledge, tracking and compliance, and insufficient technology to help them distribute the high level of funding allocated by HUD and Treasury. 

As the President & CEO of Resource Consultants, Elizabeth is a federal compliance and technical expert.  She and her team play an integral role in helping jurisdictions set up their policies and procedures, strategies, and CON-Plans for HUD and other planning documents.  They assist jurisdictions in navigating program regulations and requirements, with technical assistance and training needs, and communities experiencing high turnover.

Below are just a few of the topics we cover in this episode:

*Industry trends and key insights for HOME – ARP allocations

*Strategies and best practices when helping jurisdictions put together their CONPLANS and Annual Action Plans that get submitted to HUD

*HUD program pitfalls and how to navigate them

*Emerging trends amongst governments now that we are slowly coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic

*Some of the most significant hurdles government entities are facing today

To learn more about Elizabeth and Resource Consultants, visit their website at resource consultants about us, REAP grants, renewable energy project.

In Episode 3, we’re discussing Navigating Times of Transition: How States Are Using Fiscal Recovery Funds For Affordable Housing.  Our guest speaker, Jennifer Schwartz, Director of Tax & Housing Advocacy for the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA), shares key insights on how state governments are using these funds as our nation slowly recovers from the pandemic. Jennifer has been a long-time advocate for Affordable Housing and we’re so excited to have her as a guest on our show.

As the Director of Tax and Housing Advocacy, Jennifer leads NCSHA’s multifamily and tax policy team and oversees the organization’s federal legislative advocacy efforts, with particular focus on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and tax-exempt private activity Housing Bonds.

Join us for an episode you don’t want to miss as we discuss:

*NCSHA’s current advocacy and legislative initiatives.

*Key insight on the finalization of the FY22 Budget and what that looks like for State Housing Agencies.

*Opportunities for strengthening and expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, including restoring the 12.5% cut states experienced in 2022.

*NCSHA’s efforts to facilitate more effective use of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds for affordable housing purposes.

*The potential for both statutory and regulatory changes to the HOME program.

*Perspective on 2022 funding for both HOME and Housing Trust Fund and what NCSHA is hoping to see for HOME in 2023 appropriations.

*Emerging trends for maintaining compliance and the way State Housing Agencies are managing their programs during COVID.

*Best practices in distributing Affordable Housing program funds.

To learn more about NCSHA, visit their website at the National Council of State Housing Agencies — NCSHA.

In Episode 2, we’re discussing how to Navigate the Challenges of Affordable Housing. Katie Goar, our guest speaker and President of Quadel, shares some educational gems on how to do that. Katie has been a long-time advocate for Affordable Housing and we’re so excited to have her as a guest on our show.

As president of Quadel, she oversees company performance, project management, and client relations of the company’s subsidiary offices in Phoenix, Memphis, Raleigh, Indianapolis, and Baltimore.

Quadel is the national leader in consulting, training, and audit solutions for the affordable housing community. Their industry-leading curricula improves the productivity and effectiveness of participants. The affordable housing industry is an ever-changing environment and requires continuous best practice implementation and quality operation. Quadel strives to provide the best in technical assistance, operation and technological support, dynamic training, and professional certifications. Their “on the ground,” engaged approach allows them to align their services with every client.

To learn more about the work Quadel does in the affordable housing space, follow their podcast, ChangeMakers with Katie Goar | Podcast on Spotify.  To learn more about Quadel, visit their website at Home - Quadel.

Executive Director of the National Community Development Association (NCDA), Vicki Watson, provides key insight on the finalized FY22 Budget and what it means for HUD program allocations.  She also shares the advocacy and legislative initiatives of NCDA and the Council of State Community Development Agencies (COSCDA) for the proposed CDBG Improvements Act. This includes an increase in the authorized funding level of CDBG to keep up with the growing number of grantees. Another monumental effort of NCDA is National Community Development Week.  This annual event takes place on April 11 - 15 and highlights state and local CDBG grantees to recognize the program, showcase projects, and share program impact data with Congress. 

The NCDA is a national nonprofit organization of more than 400 local governments across the country that administer federally-supported community development, economic development, and affordable housing programs, including programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), and HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) programs. Since 1969, NCDA has been at the forefront in securing effective and responsive housing and community development programs for local governments. The Association provides timely, direct information and training on federal housing and community development programs. It also serves as a national clearinghouse of ideas for local government officials and federal policymakers on pertinent national issues affecting America’s communities. For more info on NCDA, visit their website at - NCDA (ncdaonline.org)

Welcome to the Neighborly Navigator podcast! As a market leader in the civic tech space, distributing billions of dollars in government assistance, we’ve seen firsthand the challenges state and local governments face when trying to get funding out of the door. We call our clients Neighbors, and with a growing Neighborhood, we’ve developed our software based on best practices and lessons learned while assisting them. In total, the U.S. Treasury is responsible for managing over $1 Trillion in American Rescue Plan programs and tax credits meant to better communities who need it. However, all the administrative work needed to actually roll out that funding is slowing everything down. State and local governments are understaffed and lack the technology needed to administer these allocations. Common challenges administrations face with program funding delivery include high employee turnover rate, lack of a centralized database, paper-based files and spreadsheets, insufficient tracking and reporting abilities, lack of real-time data, and compliance issues.

Our podcast is meant to share actionable tips and strategies that can help organizations better equip themselves to get funding to people in their communities and build back stronger.