Educational Webinar
In September, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) welcomed Terrand Smith (pictured left), founder and CEO of 37 Oaks Consulting, a Chicago-based company that strengthens and revitalizes neighborhoods through local commerce, to discuss new ways to support neighborhood businesses and the workforce that supports them as both have encountered unprecedented challenges. Click here to check out the webinar recording, and learn more about the vital role community organizations play in such support efforts!
Additional Resources:
Terrand Smith recommended that participants check out the following blog post from 37 Oaks Consulting:
Main Street America published a blog post, Beyond COVID – Workforce as the Next Big Challenge for Main Streets, highlighting a new challenge for place professionals in their support of entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Inspirational Podcast
As we focus on strengthening and revitalizing our communities, DHCD was excited to welcome Jennifer S. Vey (pictured left), Senior Fellow and Director of the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking at the Brookings Institution. Vey spoke about how more people and places can benefit from interconnected place-focused policies and programs and why, as a key idea of transformative placemaking, such strategies have to be rooted in the assets of local residents and businesses. Listen here!
Additional Resources:
Vey recommended listeners check out Placemaking Postcards, a blog series from the Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking at Brookings where policymakers and practitioners guest-author promising placemaking efforts from across the U.S. and abroad that foster connected, vibrant, and inclusive communities.
Ecosystems Workbook
Download the Ecosystems Workbook 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
Educational Webinar | Speaker: Elgin Cleckley | October 13, 2021 | Register Here
Inspirational Podcast | Speaker: Lindsey Wallace | September 13, 2021 | Listen Here
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