From neighborhood health and quality of life to property values and a local government’s ability to operate efficiently, vacant properties have far-reaching impacts on communities today. Join the 2020 Vacant, Abandoned, and Deteriorated (VAD) Properties Training Academy to get the insights and tools to help address properties in your community and prevent long-term vacancy with today’s best practices and equity-building tools.
FREE Weekly Virtual “Boot Camp” for Local Government, Nonprofit, and Community Leaders
Weekly Sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays Oct. 6 – 23
The VAD Academy – short for Vacant, Abandoned, and Deteriorated Properties Training Academy – is an intensive and rigorous training for public, private, nonprofit, and community leaders whose work and communities are impacted by challenges related to VAD properties. Thanks to support from NeighborWorks America, the 2020 edition of the VAD Academy will be offered free of charge to attendees, a $225 savings.
Classes Begin October 2020
Through a mix of interactive classroom presentations and follow-up discussions, our expert faculty guides VAD Academy participants through the following topics:
- Week 1 - Understanding VAD Properties and the Property Revitalization Cycle
- Week 2 - Tools for Property Revitalization
- Week 3 - Broader Concepts to Inform Property Revitalization Action
Meet the Faculty
Tarik Abdelazim
Center for Community Progress
Bambie Hayes-Brown
Georgia Advancing
Communities Together, Inc.
Justin Godard
Center for Community Progress
Liz Kozub
Center for Community Progress
Matt Kreis
Center for Community Progress
Danielle Lewinski
Center for Community Progress
Sara Toering
Center for Community Progress
Akilah Watkins-Butler
Center for Community Progress
Background
Vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties plague communities of all sizes across the United States. Whether spurred by natural disasters or industry loss, these properties create compound challenges for residents and local governments.
When working to comprehensively address and transform VAD properties—with an emphasis on equitable outcomes—communities can find it difficult to know where to start.
Center for Community Progress’ VAD Academy was created to help public, private, nonprofit, and resident leaders craft equitable, effective approaches to addressing these property challenges. From breaking down complex systems to sharing smart strategies for resident engagement and fostering compliance, the VAD Academy aims to equip leaders to help return all properties to purposeful use.
Who Should Attend?
The VAD Academy is designed for government, nonprofit, and private sector professionals and community partners, who aim to equitably address problem properties. If you work primarily in one issue area (such as code enforcement) and want to better understand how your day-to-day intersects with other areas of work, VAD is a great opportunity for you. Participants include urban planners, city attorneys, elected officials, CDC staff, land bank leaders, academics, code enforcement officials, neighborhood association leaders, developers, lending institutions, and more. Whether you work with urban, suburban, or rural communities, the VAD Academy curriculum will help you combat widespread abandonment and neighborhood decline.
