HOUSING ACADEMY

Housing Academy is a training program for municipal staff, local elected officials, volunteers who serve on local land use boards, and other local leaders from communities that have been awarded a Housing Opportunity Planning (HOP) grant. Housing Academy was created in partnership with Cooperative Extension at the University of New Hampshire.

Sessions include housing education, community engagement training, small group discussions, and more. The content taught in Housing Academy is cumulative and attendees should plan to attend as many of the sessions as possible. Communities that have participated in the past are welcome to attend again or send new representatives.

Information about session dates for Summer/Fall 2024 and Winter 2025 is coming soon.

In addition, participants should expect to engage in an online platform, Connect Extension, created to enable grantees to connect between sessions and access resources.

WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE?

Grantees are eligible to send up to three people from their community to Housing Academy. Participants may include municipal staff, as well as local elected officials and volunteers who serve on land use boards, housing committees or commissions, and other relevant boards and committees. No housing or community engagement experience is necessary.

IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL SESSIONS
Housing Academy participants will meet via webinars, in-person training sessions at New Hampshire Housing’s office in Bedford, and place-based training in communities around the state. There will be ample opportunities for community participants to share best practices and challenges and learn from each other.

HOUSING AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TOPICS
Through a variety of engagement techniques and tools such as storytelling, interviews, focus groups, art, posters, polls, listening sessions and more, Housing Academy is designed to be interactive. Community engagement techniques and tools will be taught so participants can develop and implement an engagement plan in their city or town. Speakers, panels, teachers, and participants will explore a wide range of housing and community engagement topics, including:

• Understanding the housing crisis
• Using data
• How to talk about housing
• Envisioning communities with more housing options
• Community engagement beyond public meetings
• How to make change – working with opposing views and mapping out regulatory change
• Bringing new people and voices into the housing discussion

If you have questions about Housing Academy, please contact us at info@NHHOPgrants.org.