Educational Webinar

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) kicked off the Creating Community Vitality (CCV) Series with a phenomenal webinar, featuring Monique Johnson (pictured left), Chief Operating Office for the Better Housing Coalition (BHC). Johnson helped participants examine how the inflection points of the past year have led to seismic shifts that will force communities to reimagine how they define themselves, while also prompting community leaders to consider what tools and approaches are needed to remain responsive to the diverse needs of their constituencies. If you weren’t able to attend the live session, check out the webinar recording to learn more about reimagining community vibrancy, culture and connection!

Additional Resources:

Helping to influence her work and inspire the focus of January’s webinar, Johnson recommended that participants learn more about McKinsey & Company, an organizational development firm focused on helping organizations across the private, public and social sectors create Change that Matters most to them. She shared a worthwhile post from the McKinsey Blog, Reimagining How Organizations Operate for the Future. Senior partner, Mary Meaney expands on the following questions:

• What learnings have we uncovered during the COVID-19 crisis?
• What should organizations that want to reimagine the way they do business for the future ask themselves?
• Why has purpose become a critical priority for leaders?

Inspirational Podcast

Another component of the CCV Series will be a year’s worth of enlightening conversations with inspiring speakers, and DHCD was thrilled to have Melody Warnick (pictured left), author of This is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are (Penguin Books, 2017), as the agency’s first podcast guest of 2021. Helping kickoff the CCV Series, Rebecca Rowe, Associate Director of DHCD’s Community Revitalization Office (CRO), spoke to Warnick about her path to belonging in her community and the concept of place attachment. During the podcast, listeners will hear Warnick dig deeper into why some “soft” seeming investments might mean hard dollars for your community. Click here to listen to the podcast and learn more from Warnick’s insights!

Additional Resources:

As a freelance writer, Warnick’s work has appeared in many publications, and we encourage you to learn more about her numerous articles and book by checking out her website! Helping people fall in love with where they live has been a passion that Warnick has held for many years. If you’d like to hear more about what she has to say, Warnick publishes a monthly newsletter to share the coolest curated ideas about place, and you can subscribe for free!

Click here to view the recording of the 2020 Southwest Virginia (SWVA) Economic Forum, and hear Warnick speak further on the topic of place attachment and the importance of calling a place home.

Identity Workbook

Download the Identity Workbook to to reflect on the future you would like to see for your community, identify session ideas that rise to today’s needs and develop a path forward. You can also learn more about upcoming sessions!

Coming Up: February 2021 | Placemaking

Educational Webinar | Speaker: Jeff Siegler | Feb. 10 | Register Here

Inspirational Podcast | Speaker: Laura Scherling | Feb. 15 | Listen Here