Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love. Birthplace of America. And the location of our most recent training event with NeighborWorks America.
I was fortunate enough to participate in two special events for the NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Centers this past week in Philly. Out of over 2,200 networks affiliates, there are only 99 HomeOwnership Centers nationwide. There’s never much time for sightseeing at these events but, never having visited Philadelphia, I was very fortunate that my hotel was within walking distance of The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. So, so much history in Philly and a city I absolutely encourage you to visit.
The first of our two convenings was a joint meeting with the HomeOwnership Center Managers from the Northeast and Southern Regions on Monday and Tuesday. This forum allows our HomeOwnership Center Managers to learn from our peers, introduce new best practices, get updates and interact with agencies from other parts of the country. For as similar as all of our agencies are, the scope and details of their day-to-day business can be pretty varied. After some great speakers from HUD, NeighborWorks, eHomeAmerica and more, we concluded with a wonderful evening event. The forum was great but I’m quite bummed that we missed Stevie Wonder holding a pop-up concert right outside our hotel on Tuesday afternoon!
Thursday and Friday, I got to participate in the 10th Annual NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Center Forum. What an amazing two days! We were fortunate to hear a distinguished group of speakers including Eric Belskey, Director of Consumer and Community Affairs, The Federal Reserve Board, Judy Coleman-Kinebrew, Co-Author of The Sherpa Guide: Process-Driven Executive Coaching, and Curt Steinhorst, Founder of Promentum Group and an expert on Millennials and how to reach them. The breakouts we participated in were invaluable in creating new ideas and inspiring all of us to strive to be even better.
This was a very productive week and I’m looking forward to getting even more ideas at the next NeighborWorks Training Institute in December!