Award of Excellence: Building for the Future

摘要

The Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority wins a 2017 Award of Excellence in Client and Resident Services for the Building for the Future program, which is a partnership with local organizations to help small and underrepresented contractors become competitive in the construction industry. Nominated from among the NAHRO Award of Merit winners each year, the Awards of Excellence winners are chosen by national juries and honored at the annual National Conference and Exhibition in October. They represent the very best in innovative programs in assisted housing and community development. The Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) (https://cintimha.com/) is committed not only to providing quality, affordable housing, but also to giving members of the low-income and underrepresented community equitable access to economic opportunities. CMHA is currently converting their Asset Management units into the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program that provides access to funding to make improvements to public housing properties and have taken this opportunity to create an economically inclusive bidding environment for the RAD contracts. CMHA started a contractor support and education initiative called “Building for the Future” to assist Small Businesses (SBE), Minority-Owned Businesses (MBE), Women-Owned Businesses (WBE), Section 3 businesses that employ lowincome individuals, and resident-owned businesses. CMHA connected businesses with community stakeholders who help them develop the skills they needed to become more competitive for subcontracts with the larger construction firms who win RAD project contracts.