PRESS RELEASE
July 2, 2018
Contacts:
Jacqueline Medina, Communications, City of Long Beach, 562.570.3827, Jacqueline.Medina@longbeach.gov
Vicki Watson, Executive Director, National Community Development Association, 540.656.9552, vwatson@ncdaonline.org
Elisa Vásquez, Manager, Community Development Commission/Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles, 626.586.1762, elisa.vasquez@lacdc.org
For Immediate Release
Long Beach Hosts 49th Annual National Community Development Association Conference
Stakeholders Nationwide Discuss Community Development, Affordable Housing, and Ending Homelessness
The City of Long Beach and the Community Development Commission/Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (CDC/HACoLA) co-hosted the 49th annual National Community Development Association (NCDA) Conference, held for the first time in Los Angeles County. The event brought together community development professionals from across the country to discuss the latest federal policies and best practices for addressing community development, including the nationwide issues of affordable housing and homelessness.
“Long Beach is honored to have hosted this year’s NCDA Conference for the first time together with our partners at LA County,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “This event builds on the City’s many efforts, including the recently launched Everyone Home Long Beach initiative, aimed at finding solutions to addressing the linked challenges of affordable housing and homelessness in our city.”
Long Beach relies on federal funding to maintain and improve the existing housing stock, provide supportive services and housing for those experiencing or at-risk of experiencing homelessness, and make critical improvements for the City’s parks, facilities, and infrastructure.
“The 49th NCDA Annual Conference hosted by Long Beach and LA County provided three days of learning, networking and a first-hand view of local community development and affordable housing projects,” said NCDA Executive Director Vicki Watson. “NCDA thanks our host communities for making the conference a true success.”
The NCDA Conference, held at the Renaissance Hotel, highlighted the investments made through the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program, and focused on critical federal housing and community and economic development programs.
“We were honored to cohost the 49th Annual NCDA Conference with the City of Long Beach and meet with community development leaders from across the nation,” said Monique King-Viehland, Executive Director of the CDC/HACoLA. “The conference provided an opportunity to exchange ideas on how to optimize our collective efforts in building and revitalizing the communities we serve.”
Everyone Home Long Beach is a bold citywide plan to address the statewide homelessness crisis and its effects on Long Beach. Built on the efforts already underway by the City, Everyone Home Long Beach will mobilize the entire community to create new pathways into affordable homes and to increase efforts to prevent residents from becoming homeless.
For more information on the NCDA, residents can visit www.ncdaonline.org. For more information on the CDC/HACoLA, those interested can visit www.lacdc.org.
About the City of Long Beach
Home to approximately 480,000 people, the multiple award-winning and innovative City of Long Beach offers all the world-class amenities of a large metropolitan city while maintaining a strong sense of individual and diverse neighborhoods nestled together along the California coast. As a full-service charter city, Long Beach is home to the Queen Mary, Aquarium of the Pacific, several museums and theaters, a highly-rated school district, Long Beach Airport, the Port of Long Beach, as well as many award-winning City departments such as Health, Parks, Recreation and Marine, Development Services and more. The City also has a highly-respected university and city college, two historic ranchos, five hospitals, five golf courses, 170 parks, miles of beaches, marinas, bike paths, and a Bike Share program.
For more information about the City of Long Beach, visit http://longbeach.gov. Follow us on social to keep up with the latest news: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
About Long Beach Development Services
Serving residents, businesses, and the community at large, the award-winning Long Beach Development Services sets a standard for high-quality, innovative urban planning and livability efforts that create more progressive and sustainable communities within the diverse City of Long Beach, CA. Through a variety of development, code enforcement, housing and neighborhood services, and building activities, the Department builds a better future for the City while also honoring its unique past. For more information, visit www.lbds.info. “Like” our Facebook page and “follow” us on Twitter.
About the National Community Development Association
NCDA is a national non-partisan, non-profit membership-based organization that represents local government departments across the country that administer federally-supported community and economic development and affordable housing programs. NCDA is an association of people committed to assist local governments to achieve high quality, locally-responsive programs for making communities better places in which to live and work, particularly for low- and moderate-income people.
About the Community Development Commission/Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles
The Community Development Commission/Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (CDC/HACoLA) is a dynamic and innovative local government agency created in 1982 by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The agency is an industry leader in four core service areas: affordable housing, and community, economic, and housing development. Funded primarily with federal grants, the CDC/HACoLA prides itself on sponsoring new solutions to local issues, and forming partnerships with private and public agencies. To learn more about the agency’s work in support of its mission to Build Better Lives and Better Neighborhoods, please visit www.lacdc.org
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