NDC Academy 2009

NDC Academy 2009 Awards | Agenda | Panelists | Sponsors

NDC’s biennial Academy brings together community development practitioners from across the country to:

• Get up-to-the minute briefings from legislators, policy makers and program officials on Federal activities that address what they do every day in their community: job creation, community revitalization, affordable housing, economic development
• Let their elected representatives and Federal program administrators hear from the frontlines of community development about what is working and what more is needed
• Hear from each other about successes, challenges and solutions
• Get NDC’s hallmark training in the full range of financing tools and development strategies and how to use them for every type of community development project

We were delighted to welcome over 270 attendees to the NDC Academy 2009 held May 12-14 in Washington, D.C.  Thank you to everyone who attended the Academy as well as the program and policy experts who joined us in panel and classroom discussions and event sponsors who contributed generously to make the NDC Academy 2009 possible.

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NDC Academy 2009 Awards Showcasing Innovative Community Development Projects

The NDC Academy 2009 gave community development practitioners from across the country the opportunity to submit their innovative community development projects for inclusion in our first-ever Project Showcases from the Field and recognition at the NDC Academy 2009 Awards Luncheon.  Finalist projects were displayed at the Capitol Hill Reception sponsored by Senator Charles Schumer and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney on Tuesday, May 12.  Following visual and spoken presentations, Academy attendees cast their votes, selecting the top three honorees in each of four categories: rural development, job creation, affordable housing development and community development.

Congratulations to the top three finalists in each category:

Rural Development
1st: Plaza Los Robles
Mollala, OR
Submitted by: Hacienda CDC

2nd: Arrington Estates of Henderson
Henderson, TN
Submitted by: USDA Rural Development

3rd: Blakely Commons
Blakely, GA
Submitted by: Blakely Commons Development, LLC / Hammond Development

Job Creation
1st: Work Initiative Program
Columbia, SC
Submitted by: The City of Columbia

2nd: 221 McKibbin Street Industrial Center
Brooklyn, NY
Submitted by: Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center

3rd: 74 State Boutique Hotel
Albany, NY
Submitted by: The City of Albany

Affordable Housing Development
1st: Seigle Point Apartment Homes
Charlotte, NC
Submitted by: FHLB, Atlanta

2nd: Ludlow HOPE VI Redevelopment
Philadelphia, PA
Submitted by: The Philadelphia Housing Authority

3rd: R Street Apartments
Washington, D.C.
Submitted by: NHT / Enterprise Preservation Corporation

Community Development
1st: Victoria Courts Revitalization Project
San Antonio, TX
Submitted by: The San Antonio Housing Authority

2nd: The Henry Clay
Louisville, KY
Submitted by: CITY Properties Group

3rd: Court Square Center
Memphis, TN
Submitted by: Court Square Center, LLC

Thank you to everyone who submitted their project for consideration. 

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Program and Policy Experts

 

Thank you to the program and policy experts who joined us in panel and classroom discussions:

Chris Alsop, USDA Rural Development
Ryan Ammann, Branch Banking & Trust Company
Amos Atencio, Siete Del Norte CDC
Adolfo Carrión, Jr., Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs
Don Cravins, Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Linda Davenport, Rapoza Associates
Jane DeMarines, National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations
Cindy Edens, Wright Runstad & Company
Eric Edwards, House Financial Services Subcommittee
Eileen Fitzgerald, NeighborWorks America
Mark D. Foster, Law Office of Mark D. Foster
Anne Gass, ABG Consulting
Stanley Gimont, U.S. Department of HUD
Brenda Grauer, State of Illinois
Chuck Hassebrook, Center for Rural Affairs
Vincent P. Hauser, Architect
Grady Hedgespeth, Small Business Administration
Matt Josephs, CDFI Fund
Bruce Katz, U.S. Department of HUD and The Brookings Institution
Jill Kotvis, Jill Kovtis, P.C.
Gail Laster, House Financial Services Committee, Counsel to Chairman Frank (MA)
Derold McIver, Branch Banking & Trust Company
Cynthia Milliken Taylor, Housing Initiatives of New England
Melissa Mueller, Tax Counsel to Representative Neal (MA)
Jim Napolitano, King County, WA
Bob Rapoza, Rapoza Associates
Earl Richardson, SouthEast Effective Development
Kalima Rose, PolicyLink
Courtney Spangler, Rapoza Associates
Michael Steininger, USDA Rural Development
Jose Villalobos, TELACU
Paul Webster, U.S. Department of HUD
Ira Weinstein, Reznick Group
Warren Wenzloff, Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, P.C.
Jennifer Westerbeck, US Bancorp CDC 

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Sponsors

We extend a special thank you to our event sponsors:

Platinum Sponsors

Branch Banking & Trust Company
Charlotte, NC 

The Reznick Group
Baltimore, MD

Gold Sponsors

Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, P.C.
Chicago, IL 

Law Office of Mark D. Foster
Dallas, TX

Vincent P. Hauser, Architect
Austin, TX

Jill Kotvis, P.C.
Dallas, TX

Shallo, Galluscio, Bianchi & Fucito
Hudson, NY

SunTrust Community Capital, LLC
Atlanta, GA

US Bancorp Community Development Corporation
St. Louis, MO

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Program Agenda

		Track I Rural Development	Track II Job Creation	Track III Affordable Housing Development	Track IV  Community Development
Day 1  Tuesday, May 12	8:30-9:30am	Welcome Session - Robert W. Davenport
	9:30am-12pm	Meet the New Administration
	12-1:30pm	Lunch (on your own)
	2-5pm Classroom Sessions	Rural Real Estate and Housing Development	New Markets Tax Credits from “A” to QALICB	Foreclosures and Your Community	Renewable Energy Tax Credits: Going Green Pays Off
	6-7:30pm	Reception on Capitol Hill
Day 2  Wednesday, May 13	8:30-9:30am Project Showcases	Rural Development	Economic Development	Affordable Housing	Community Development
	10am-1pm  Classroom Sessions	Rural Economic Development: Helping Businesses Stay Near the Farm	The Next Level of NMTCs	Housing Development Finance Programs	Main Street Finance: Mixed-Use Real Estate
	1-2:30pm	Awards Luncheon
	3-6pm  Classroom Sessions	Harnessing the Power of NMTCs in Rural Areas	TIFs and Their Not so Famous Cousins: It’s Not Alchemy	LIHTCs: The Workhorse of Affordable Housing Development	Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits
Day 3  Thursday, May 14	8:30-9:30am  Discussion Panels	The Foreclosure Crisis (Tracks I and III)	NMTCs Roundtable: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know and Now You Can Ask	The Foreclosure Crisis (Tracks I and III)	Putting the Public Back in Public-Private Partnerships: Innovative Approaches to Financing Municipal Buildings
	10am-1pm  Classroom Sessions	No Session Offered	Business Development Finance and Job Creation Programs	Asset Management and Affordable Housing	CDBG Financing Tools: Section 108 and CD Float
	1pm	NDC Academy 2009 Adjourns

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Session Descriptions

Tuesday, May 12                        Wednesday, May 13                      Thursday, May 14

Tuesday, May 12

Meet the New Administration
General Session – 9 am-12 pm

We’ve all heard about change, but what does that really mean for the field of community development?  At 100 days into the new Administration, learn about change from the legislators, policy-makers and agency officials who are making their imprint.  There will be no better time than the Academy’s General Session to understand the changes under way in Washington and their impact on our communities.  Join us for this important update on our changing world and new community development programs and initiatives.
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Rural Real Estate and Housing Development
Track I:  Rural Development – 2-5 pm

In the context of community development, rural housing and real estate development share many characteristics with their urban and suburban counterparts.  But because they take place in a very different environment, they face challenges specific to their rural context.  While the pool of resources available for rural housing includes those that are available to all areas, it also includes Federal programs that were created just for rural areas.  This course investigates both the challenges specific to rural housing and real estate development and the general and specific resources available.  Rural housing resources from the USDA are explored in detail with a review of other programs and their applicability in rural areas including:

• Low-Income Housing Tax Credits
• Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits
• Private Activity and Mortgage Revenue Bonds
• CDBG programs
• HUD programs:  Section 108, CD Float, HOME funds
• EDA programs
• Federal Home Loan Bank programs

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New Markets Tax Credits from “A” to QALICB
Track II:  Job Creation – 2-5 pm

To many economic development practitioners, the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) offers promise as a tool to get deals done but understanding how to use it in an actual project often proves challenging. This Academy course takes participants through a general understanding of the program to detailed, step-by-step application in actual deals.  NDC, as a recipient of one of the largest NMTC allocations, is at the leading edge in developing and applying the best models for this powerful economic development tool.  This course addresses the following topics:

• Outline of the NMTC program
• How funds flow through an NMTC deal
• Determining the amount of tax credits available to investors
• Calculating the Qualified Equity Investment
• Structuring a Qualified Low-Income Community Investment
• Compliance and recapture issues

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Foreclosures and Your Community
Track III:  Affordable Housing – 2-5 pm

Neighborhood disinvestment is nothing new to our business. In fact it was a first cause in the origin of the Community Development movement. But the current tsunami of foreclosures is more sudden and more severe than what we have known and overcome in the past. This course addresses the new challenges that have arisen out of this crisis, and discusses strategies and resources for dealing with them for both owner-occupied and rental housing and for neighborhood commercial property. Participants also learn about local tools and programs, HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program, and new ways to see the problem of disinvestment so that fresh approaches can emerge.

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Renewable Energy Tax Credits:  Going Green Pays Off
Track IV:  Community Development – 2-5 pm

The Renewable Energy Tax Credit (RETC) was created by Congress to be a major instrument of national energy and environmental policy, and it’s proving to be a very effective one.  NDC recognized its potential to be an important community development resource as well.  The challenge was to leave as much investment   in the community as possible while still meeting all the compliance requirements of the tax credit program.  NDC has developed and successfully employed an RETC financing structure that does just that. NDC expects to replicate this unique structure as the program grows, adding a significant community development benefit to the environmental and and energy benefits envisioned by Congress.  Attend this session and learn where we are today and how we got here.  We’ll cover:

• Overview of the Federal tax credit program for renewable energy investments
• How states are promoting renewable energy
• Utilities:  friend or foe?
• The hot topic of the sun and solar energy
• Selecting the right renewable energy
• Structuring debt and equity
• Long-term benefits of going green

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Capitol Hill Reception
General Session – 6-7:30 pm

We invite you to join us for an early evening reception on Capitol Hill.  Network with legislators, policy-makers, program officials and colleagues, enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvre and celebrate the work of your colleagues, who are putting local and Federal development programs to work generating investments, jobs, and economic and housing opportunities in communities across the country. Sponsored by Senator Charles Schumer and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.

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Wednesday, May 13 

 

Spotlight on Your Community:  Project Showcases from the Field
All Tracks:  8:30-9:30 am

NDC is pleased to pass the microphone to the dedicated and creative community development professionals who work diligently to get projects done in their communities.  These sessions will showcase some of their most challenging projects, and participants will get an opportunity to learn how they took those projects from concept to reality.  In addition to informal presentations, question-and-answer sessions will give participants an opportunity to explore the details of their problem-solving strategies, the constraints and road blocks they overcame and other tricks of their trade.  Projects presented in these four sessions will be honored with the first-ever NDC recognition awards at the luncheon following the day’s morning classroom sessions.  Select the project spotlight session that most interests your from the four track-specific categories:

• Track I:  Rural Development
• Track II:  Economic Development/Job Creation
• Track III:  Affordable Housing
• Track IV:  Community Development

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Rural Economic Development:  Helping Businesses Stay Near the Farm
Track I:  Rural Development – 10 am-1 pm

Small business continues to be the crucial backbone of many rural economies, and although rural businesses face many of the same challenges as their urban and metropolitan counterparts, there are additional circumstances that are specific to rural economies.  If financing programs for these businesses are to be effective, they must be designed and operated to address those circumstances.  Economic development programs from the Department of Agriculture and more specialized programs from the Department of Commerce and the Bureau of Indian Affairs are available to assist rural communities.  This course provides an overview of the special challenges in the rural business environment, and discusses both the general and specific programs available for rural development including SBA and EDA financing tools.  Participants  also review the basic credit principles for small business underwriting
and additional specific requirements of the applicable programs.

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The Next Level of New Markets Tax Credits
Track II:  Job Creation – 10 am-1 pm

If you’ve learned the basics of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program in our NMTCs from “A” to QALICB course, or if you know what a QLICI, QALICB and QEI are, then this course takes you to the next level of understanding in using the NMTC program.  It presents real projects, real numbers and real problems, and shows you how to structure a real project.  Whether you are already a CDE with an allocation, or hoping to become one, or whether you are planning to seek New Markets Tax Credits for a project, this material will help you get the most out of the program.  The course addresses both the “leveraged model” for real estate projects and using the program for real estate projects and a business lending model.

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Housing Development Finance Programs
Track III:  Affordable Housing – 10 am-1 pm

Housing, and especially affordable housing, is still at the heart of every community development strategy.  The practice has become more and more sophisticated in the past few decades with many stakeholders, different techniques, and new and evolving tools.  This comprehensive overview of affordable housing finance and development is designed for both non-profit and public sector housing development practitioners.  This course addresses the following topics and more:

• HUD government resources:  CDBG, CD Float, Section 108 and HOME
• Tax-exempt bonds
• Low-Income Housing Tax Credits
• Types of projects that can be done with each program
• Key issues for developers and funders

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Main Street Finance:  Mixed-Use Real Estate
Track IV:  Community Development – 10 am-1 pm

Neighborhoods are at their best when “Main Street” pulses with the activities that bring a community alive—retail, entertainment, services, public facilities, and common areas.  There are many financial tools available for Main Street redevelopment and if brought together in the right way, for the right uses, they can do the job.  Older Main Streets have special opportunities for adaptive reuse and new construction — with buildings that are ideally suited to retrofitting multiple uses in one structure.  But how do you use single-purpose financing tools to structure financing for a mixed-use facility?  What instruments are available and appropriate? What if their criteria seem to be contradictory?  This course answers those questions and explores the following topics:

• Challenges of mixed-use development
• Mixed-use opportunities
• Community facilities on Main Street
• Inventory:  What do you have to work with?
• Tax Credit Tools – Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and New Markets Tax Credits
• Mixing financing:  the right recipe

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Awards Luncheon

1-2:30 pm

NDC is pleased to honor community development practitioners for their hard work and ingenuity.  Academy attendees will have the opportunity to read about their innovative projects at the Capitol Hill Reception and to ask questions of the deal-doers themselves in the Project Showcases.  Now join us in congratulating them on their efforts at our first-ever Awards Luncheon.

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Harnessing the Power of New Markets Tax Credits in Rural Areas
Track I:  Rural Development – 3-6 pm

As in urban and suburban areas, New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) are a valuable tool in the community development practitioner’s arsenal.  But rural projects, which are often smaller than their urban counterparts, pose unique challenges.  How do you attract adequate financing in a rural market?  How do you combine a number of sources of subsidy, often requisite for getting rural deals done?  This Academy course takes participants through a general understanding of the program to detailed, step-by-step application of NMTCs in actual deals in rural areas.  Attendees leave the classroom with an understanding of the following topics:

• How funds flow through a NMTC deal
• Determining the amount of tax credits available to investors
• Calculating the Qualified Equity Investment
• Determining the Qualified Low-Income Community Investment
• Deal structures in rural markets
• Combining NMTCs with Federal programs for rural areas

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TIFs and Their Not So Famous Cousins:  It’s Not Alchemy
Track II:  Job Creation – 3-6 pm

For more than two decades, we have been confronted with the continuing attrition of resources available for local housing and economic redevelopment and community renewal.  The conundrum:  without resources, how can we build our local economy, but without a healthy economy, how do we generate resources?  Many states and localities have found one answer by banking on their future — identifying future revenue streams that would be generated by development and turning to financial markets to capitalize those streams.  This session explores the different kinds of revenue streams that might be associated with specific future development activities and projects and ways in which they can be used to raise capital in the present.  They include Tax Increment Financing (using real estate, sales, hotel and convention, or other targeted taxes); and PILOT revenue as some examples of this approach.  How to identify those sources and turn them into funds to assist redevelopment efforts are the focus of the session.

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Low-Income Housing Tax Credits:

The Workhorse of Affordable Housing Development
Track III:  Affordable Housing – 3-6 pm

The Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program remains the stalwart, steady resource for affordable housing development across the country, and while there are other financing sources and mechanisms, no serious affordable housing program operates without LIHTCs.  Using this program, NDC, through the NDC Corporate Equity Fund, has invested nearly $350 million in more than 6,000 units located in 25 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.  In addition, through our technical assistance services, NDC has helped our clients across the country finance and develop thousands more LIHTC units.  This session provides a brief description of the LIHTC program and explains how it works. Participants learn the threshold criteria for using the credits and how to calculate credits for a project using real-world cases.  The session also covers recent changes to the LIHTC legislation.

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Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits
Track IV:  Community Development – 3-6 pm

The Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit (RTC) is uniquely valuable in generating equity for older buildings in older neighborhoods, often making the crucial difference between commercial success and failure.  This course covers processes and requirements for using RTCs in general, but will pay special attention on how to use RTCs for non-conventional tenants — non-profit organizations or public sector agencies.  Among the key concepts covered in this course are:

• National Park Service requirements
• Structuring the right leases
• Attracting equity
• Structuring financing
• Qualified leases and non-profit or governmental tenants

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Thursday, May 14 

 

The Foreclosure Crisis (Track I and Track III Combined)
Track I:  Rural Development & Track III:  Affordable Housing – 8:30-9:30 am

The current foreclosure crisis in the U.S. may present the greatest challenge ever faced by those of us committed to community development.  Its causes have been well documented.  Now is the time to pick up the pieces and put strategies and programs in place that will begin the long recovery process faced by neighborhoods, communities and residents.  Attend this panel to learn the techniques that are working and the resources that are available.  Hear from policy, program and other experts on the latest ideas that are coming into play.  Share your own community’s experiences in dealing with the foreclosure crisis and be prepared with questions and concerns that may very well be the spark that leads to better solutions.

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NMTC Roundtable: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know and Now You Can Ask
Track II:  Job Creation – 8:30-9:30 am

Get an up-to-the-minute legislative and administrative report on the NMTC program from the experts and authorities – what’s happening in Congress on NMTC reauthorization, and an administrative overview from the CDFI.  Then bring your questions about any aspect of the program to this roundtable of participants from key NMTC fields:  CDE practice, policy and legislation, program administration; investment, and specialized NMTC accounting.  Sign up for this session if you want to get an answer to your questions about policy issues, investors’ criteria, financial structuring, program rules and regulations, or any other NMTC issue you want to address – or even if you’d just like to get the latest picture of what’s happening in Washington and in the field.

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Putting the Public Back into Public-Private Partnerships:

Innovative Approaches to Financing Municipal Buildings
Track IV: Community Development – 8:30-9:30 am

Some municipalities need to look beyond conventional approaches to financing and building public facilities.  Whether they have reached their debt limits or they want to find new ways to get projects built faster and more efficiently, there are methods and tools available which enable a non-profit organization to develop and own such projects, lease them to the governmental entities and eventually transfer them to governmental ownership.  In the past eight years, NDC has financed and developed such projects valued at more than $1.0 billion.  Learn more about this approach from members of the development team themselves including how this development method differs from conventional ones, financing options and cost and time savings.

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Business Development Finance and Job Creation Programs
Track II:  Job Creation – 10 am-1 pm

In this course, experienced practitioner and professional novice alike get a solid overview of state-of-the-art economic development finance for small businesses — both the core of basic methods and tools, and newest techniques and applications.  Financing resources for all job-creation projects and activities are included in this session.  Using actual projects, the course addresses the following specific topics and more:

• Fixed asset and permanent working capital financing
• Small business real estate
• Key participants and their roles
• Financing structures, including subordinated financing
• U.S. Small Business Administration financing
• HUD Community Development Block Grants, including Section 108
• Tax increment financing
• Revolving loan funds
• New Markets Tax Credits
• CDBG financing tools

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Asset Management for Affordable Housing
Track III:  Affordable Housing – 10 am-1 pm

The asset manager performs a vital role in maintaining quality affordable housing developments.  Good asset management is invaluable to all involved parties, from investors to lenders to the low-income families this housing serves.  Participants learn the tools of risk management, including spread sheet analysis and problem solving, that can aid in diagnosing future problems and methods to address them.  Understand how asset management actually starts when a project is in the planning process.  The course shows you how to do that by exploring the following topics and more:

• Asset management responsibilities and goals
• The role of asset management throughout the planning, development and operating phases
• Identifying, assembling and managing the asset management team
• Asset management vs. property management
• Necessary tools, procedures and processes

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CDBG Financing Tools: Section 108 and CD Float
Track IV:  Community Development – 10 am-1 pm

CDBG is the stalwart mainstay in community and economic development financing.  Since its inception almost 40 years ago, NDC’s finance professionals have been experts in developing or identifying the best ways to use CDBG funds for both long-term and short-term financing.  NDC helped create and continually refine the HUD 108 program and CD Float — powerful leveraging tools for community development:  flexible, accessible for creative structuring, and irreplaceable.  Real economic development projects are used to explore the following topics and more:

• CDBG regulations
• Meeting the National Objective and Public Benefit tests
• Eligible uses for Section 108
• The Section 108 application and approval process
• Underwriting
• Defeasing a Section 108 loan
• Using CD Float as source of low-cost, short-term financing

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