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THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has honored seven local REALTOR® associations with NAR Community Outreach Awards. These awards recognize associations that have worked with their communities to make them a better place in which to live and do business.
To be considered for the award, associations must have made use of REALTOR® Party Community Outreach resources over the prior two-year period to address a challenge facing their community; developed partnerships with community stakeholders; or involved the public in a project or discussion to improve the community. The award recipients were announced in March at NAR’s 2015 Association Executives Institute in Vancouver, British Columbia. NAR’s Community Outreach resources include grants, technical assistance, training, and publications from NAR’s Smart Growth, Housing Opportunity, and Diversity programs.
The 2015 recipients of the NAR Community Outreach Awards are:
Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS® – SDAR used NAR’s Housing Opportunity grants to conduct multiple public events on a variety of housing issues, such as a re-entry workshop for those individuals who had undergone a short sale or foreclosure. SDAR used Diversity grants to engage multicultural real estate group members in advocacy and to identify new leaders for the Association. And SDAR used Smart Growth grants to support forums and community discussions about smart growth, complete streets, higher density development and bikeable communities.
Richmond Association of REALTORS® (Richmond, Va.) – RAR used NAR’s Housing Opportunity grants to support collaborative efforts with stakeholders and address a range of housing needs, including hosting a workshop on housing needs and research to help develop a regional housing plan. RAR used Smart Growth grants to facilitate a discussion on the region’s transportation needs and to co-sponsor a Better Block revitalization project; and a Diversity grant to work with the University of Richmond to develop maps showing regional patterns of poverty, housing and employment.
Austin Board of REALTORS® – Using an NAR Diversity Grant, the association worked with multicultural groups, community leaders and REALTORS® to host a workshop about homeownership challenges facing the African American community to identify and implement local solutions to key issues. With a Smart Growth grant, the board sponsored a charrette to establish a master plan for the South Central Waterfront, a 97-acre site near the state capitol.
High Point Regional Association of REALTORS® (High Point, N.C.) – HPRAR used NAR Smart Growth grants to support a charrette to plan for the rehabilitation of two blocks of High Point’s main street; another charrette focusing on a new plan for blighted areas in the city; and a series of discussions on creating less restrictive codes and regulations for redevelopment areas to help spur innovation and faster redevelopment. The Association used Housing Opportunity grants to produce a Housing Leaders Academy to train REALTORS® to be affordable housing advocates.
Charleston Trident Association of REALTORS® (Charleston, S.C.) – Through an NAR Diversity Grant, CTAR developed a student membership program with local universities to attract younger and more diverse people into the real estate profession. The association also used NAR Housing Opportunity grants to host a series of events for business leaders and other professionals to educate them on housing policy and choices. Smart Growth grants were used to develop a Smart Growth Scorecard for the various jurisdictions in the region; and to facilitate citizen input to a plan to encourage more.
Charlotte Regional REALTOR® Association (Charlotte, N.C.) – NAR’s Housing Opportunity grants helped CRRA, through its Housing Opportunity Foundation, hold a variety of events for the public and REALTORS® to educate them on homeownership topics, and expose them to new neighborhoods and purchase assistance programs specific to the Charlotte area. CAAR held two Affordable Housing/Mixed Income Housing bus tours and a Workforce Housing Fair & Neighborhood Showcase for a revitalizing neighborhood.
Ada County Association of REALTORS® (Boise, Idaho) – ACAR presented NAR’s Employer Assisted Housing (EAH) class; formed an EAH task force; then sponsored an EAH Forum to introduce the idea to local stakeholders and employers. ACAR used an NAR Diversity grant to support the city’s fair housing efforts and its anti-discrimination ordinance, and an NAR Smart Growth grant to help fund a downtown redevelopment streetscape improvement project; and to join with Idaho Smart Growth to hold a discussion on placemaking strategies to revitalize specific locations in Meridian; and obtained an NAR Placemaking Micro-Grant to help create a pedestrian plaza in downtown Meridian.
