Summer Annual Meeting

Summer has finally arrived!  During the summer season, days are longer and nights are shorter.  The sun shines brightly and rises early in the morning.  One of my favorite activities in the summer is watching the sunrise and enjoying the natural music that starts a new day.  I hope everyone has a chance to be still and enjoy every day.

The OCCD 2023 Summer Hybrid Meeting will be two days starting on July 26, 2023 and ending at 12:30 pm on July 27, 2023.  The first day will include the awards luncheon at 12:30 p.m. and a reception and awards banquet beginning at 5:15 p.m. on July 26, 2023.  

The quarterly meeting will consist of eight sessions with a time to network in-between.  The ODOD and HUD Office breakouts will be held virtually on Friday via Zoom.

Our first session of day one, will be a presentation on the Habitat for Humanity Northeast Renewal project in Canton, OH. You will learn how Habitat increased home values in an entire neighborhood. The presenters are Beth Lechner, Habitat CEO and Courtney Brown, the Family Partnership Director.  

The OCCD Business Meeting will be held between sessions to vote for the upcoming open Board seats.  Results will be announced at the evening banquet.

Mark Willis, Director and Alexandra Klug, Assistant Director of Hall Hunger Initiative will be conducting a lively and thought-provoking exercise.  Participants will get a firsthand look at the results of 140 years of US policies and how these policies led to a lack of equity in America today. Hall Hunger Initiative staff will show how the impact of these policies still drive racial disparity today.  It’s an interactive presentation with questions and comments welcomed.

Shana Garrett and Barbara Richards from ODOD will introduce the new ODOD Directors and have an announcement regarding Lead Remediation/ Mitigation.

The awards luncheon will be held at 12:30 p.m. and will include both annual member awards as well as OCCD Foundation scholarship awards.

Tony Core, from Squire Patton Boggs, will present immediately after the awards luncheon, to provide an insightful legislative update.

Harriet’s Hope is the first project of its kind in Ohio and most likely in the nation, according to advocates of human-trafficking survivors. It is a housing community that will help its residents overcome trauma from human-trafficking. Tameka Aldridge, property manager, from Beacon 360 management, Michelle Hannon, Anti-Human Trafficking Program Director for The Salvation Army in Central Ohio and the Divisional Director of Social Services for the Salvation Army’s the Southwest Ohio Northeast Kentucky Division and Bethany Hahn-Ambrosius, Assistant Vice President of Planning and Development at Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority will discuss this $15.6 million-dollar project  

Closing out the first day is a presentation from our 2022 Community Development Partners award winner Ohio Association of Foodbanks.  Joree Novotny, Chief of staff will present on how the Ohio Association of Foodbanks and its statewide network are leveraging resources to support food insecure Ohio families and the organizations that serve them, and how communities can partner with us.

Our first session of day two, will be a presentation from our Community Development Department 2022 award winner Kettering, Ohio. Angela Rahman, Community Development Manager and Amy Schrimpf, Economic Development Manager will be presenting on various successful projects in Kettering, Ohio.

A New Leaf, 2022 President’s award winner, will join us for session two.  Jennifer Seifert, Executive Director of the Survivor Advocacy Outreach Program (SAOP) and New Leaf Justice Enterprises, Charlie Chadwick is the Workforce Development Program Manager at SAOP and Rene Redd, began working with survivors of interpersonal violence in 2012 will give us an update on their program.

OCCD Community Development Professional 2022 Award Winners, Tawana Jones, Director of Montgomery County Community and Economic Development, and Paul Tecpanecatl, AICP planner with Kleinfelder, will give a presentation of wonderful projects they have developed over their tenure.

All the best,

Dawn Fish, OCCD Vice President