Welcome to COA National Summit

Uniting Minds, Transforming Outcomes

About
The Summit is designed by and for community development association staff and board members.  

This is your time — to learn from peers across the country, connect with national partners, and invest in your leadership and organizational capacity.

We are delighted to partner with the Housing Network of Rhode Island to bring our national summit to Providence, RI. 

Sessions

Sessions will begin on August 24 at 1:30 pm and end on August 26 at 3:00 pm.  Click on the titles below for session descriptions and speakers confirmed so far.

Teachers, nurses, first responders, skilled trades workers, and other middle-income households are increasingly priced out of the communities they serve. They earn too much to qualify for most affordable housing programs, yet the private market is often failing to produce homes they can afford.

This plenary brings together leaders from Washington, DC, Texas, and South Carolina to share findings from the Workforce Housing Policy Accelerator, a collaborative research initiative exploring practical solutions to one of the nation's fastest-growing housing challenges. Speakers will examine policy reforms, financing tools, land strategies, and housing models that can expand housing options for middle-income workers while strengthening local economies.

Moderated and funded by Wells Fargo, the conversation will explore how community development organizations, policymakers, employers, and financial institutions can work together to ensure that a steady job once again provides a pathway to stable, affordable housing.

Speakers:
  • Sarah Bainton Kahn, Head of Housing Access & Affordability Philanthropy, Wells Fargo Foundation
  • Maya Brennen, Chief Housing Officer, The Coalition DC
Immigration enforcement actions can have ripple effects on families, employers, schools, housing stability, and local economies. Much like other community-wide disruptions, recovery often depends on trusted local institutions and strong partnerships that can help communities regain stability and confidence over time.

This plenary will bring together leaders from Minneapolis, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles to examine how community development organizations and their partners have responded in the weeks and months following major enforcement actions. Speakers will share lessons on recovery, trust-building, cross-sector collaboration, and the long-term work of strengthening community resilience in the face of disruption.

Speakers:
  • Michael Browning — Convener Facilitator, SECURE CA
  • Stephen Glaude — President & CEO, The Coalition DC
  • Kari Johnson — Director of State Policy & Field Building, Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers
  • Emi Reyes  — CEO, Latino Economic Development Center
​Insurance costs continue to rise, coverage is becoming harder to secure, and the impacts are being felt across affordable housing and community development. This session will bring together leaders from across the field to discuss the latest trends, emerging strategies, and policy developments affecting insurance for housing providers and community development organizations. Building on previous Community Opportunity Alliance conversations, participants will share recent experiences, explore practical responses, and identify opportunities for continued collaboration on one of the field's most pressing challenges.

Speakers:
  • Daniel Elkin — Chief Strategy Officer, Come Dream Come Build Brownsville
  • Matt Hull — Executive Director, Texas Association of Community Development Organizations
Many community development leaders wrote off Opportunity Zones after the program's early years, citing a lack of transparency, accountability, and community benefit requirements. But significant changes have been made. Opportunity Zones are now permanent, eligibility rules have tightened, reporting requirements have expanded, and states are redesignating zones for the next decade.

Join Jeremy Carter of NALCAB and Opportunity Zone investors for a practical discussion of what has changed, what hasn't, and how community development organizations can engage. Through a brief OZ 101, policy updates, and real-world project examples, participants will learn how to influence tract selection, partner with mission-driven investors, and help shape the next generation of Opportunity Zone investments.

Speakers:
  • Jeremy Carter — Director of Small Business Programs, NALCAB
  • Noelle St. Clair Lentz  — CEO and Managing Director, Allivate Impact Capital Impact, Woodforest National Bank
  • An additional speaker will be announced
Learn about state and local policy wins from association professionals who helped make them happen. A dynamic panel of leaders will discuss how they accomplished recent victories. Then, we will break into small group discussions to explore how to translate winning strategies to your own policy work. Leave with new connections, concrete takeaways, and strategies you can put to work right away. 

Speakers:
                                                                                                                                     
  • Kevin Cronin — Director of Policy & Advocacy, Housing Oregon 
  • Kari Johnson — Director of State Policy & Field Building, Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers
  • Melina Lodge — Executive Director, Housing Network of Rhode Island 
  • Jonathan Nazeer — Capacity Building Program Director, South Carolina Association for Community Economic
     Development
When emerging professionals and established leaders are in real conversation, the most effective ideas for career development rise to the surface. That's exactly what this session is designed for. Through a series of structured small group discussions, you'll explore practical strategies for embedding career development into everyday organizational practice — even when resources are limited, staff time is stretched, and career paths are not always clear. First, you'll connect with peers at a similar career stage, then mix across experience levels to broaden the conversation. Leave with fresh perspectives and at least one concrete action you can bring back to your organization. 

Speakers:
  • Julia Robinson (facilitator)  — Member Capacity Manager, Ohio CDC Association
  • Chanse Sonsalla — Applied Research Manager, Community Opportunity Alliance
Community development associations strengthen small business ecosystems in all kinds of ways — by providing direct services and programs, coordinating resources, convening partners, advancing policy, and more. In this peer-learning session, a panel of COA members will discuss successful initiatives, explaining how they carved out particularly impactful roles for their associations. Then, during a structured discussion with peers, you’ll reflect on your organizations’ role in your ecosystem and envision new ways to support small businesses.

Speakers:
  • Evette Banfield — Chief Economic Development Officer, The Coalition DC
  • Yari DeJesus — Director of Economic Development, Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations
  • Heidi Schoonover (moderator) — Managing Director of CRA Strategic Programs & Initiatives, Truist
  • Joanna Winchester — Director of Training & Technical Assistance, Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations
Hear directly from national policy experts on the federal developments that matter most for community development associations. This session breaks down the latest federal priorities, funding developments, and emerging issues — with a focus on what they mean to your networks and the communities you serve. Leave better equipped to plan, advocate, and respond in the months ahead. 

Speakers:
  • Chloe Grainger — Director of Policy & Advocacy, National NeighborWorks Association
  • Dawne Troupe (moderator) — People & Places Collaborative Advocacy Director, Community Opportunity Alliance
Fundraising is not just the responsibility of development staff. Colleagues across your organization hold stories, relationships, and insights that can help donors and funders better understand your organization’s work and impact.

This interactive workshop will help participants identify practical, authentic ways that non-development staff can support fundraising without becoming frontline fundraisers. Through concrete examples, facilitated discussion, and a hands-on activity, we will explore roles for staff across the organization. You will leave with concrete ideas for building a stronger culture of fundraising — one that supports development staff while honoring the expertise and capacity of the full team.

Workshop Facilitator:
Laura Tomassi-Miller — Principal, Upwell Fundraising Advisory 
Participate in this highly-interactive workshop! Learn how to use process mapping to visually represent the steps in your organization's workflow, uncovering bottlenecks and opportunities for more effective workflow. Through hands-on activities, you’ll create your own sample process map — no software required — and walk away with practical tools you can use immediately. This workshop is ideal for managers, problem solvers, and curious minds who want to make work clearer, easier, and a little more adventurous.

Facilitator:
  • Mel Luckenbaug — Director of Strategic Initiatives, Community Action Association of Pennsylvania
Learn how a coalition of nonprofit organizations — co-led by Housing Action Illinois and Woodstock Institute — worked to get the Illinois Community Reinvestment Act passed. Find out about its rules, a companion disparity study bill, and the ongoing ups-and-downs of getting it effectively implemented. This discussion will include suggested strategies and example outreach toolkits to best position your state to do something similar. ​

  • Sharon Legenza  — Executive Director, Housing Action Illinois
  • Horacio Mendez — President & CEO, Woodstock Institute
Learn about a scalable and sustainable alternative to predatory payday and auto-title lending. The Community Loan Center program operates in markets across the country by engaging reputable community-based lenders to provide access to fairly-priced consumer credit. Hear from the person who created this program and find out how you can bring it to your state or region. ​

Speaker: 
  • Matt Hull — Executive Director, Texas Association of Community Development Corporations
Sessions on Succession Planning & Internal Hiring, Heirs' Property, Pitching Stories to Reporters, AI Ethics for Associations, Practitioners Influencing Policy,  and other topics will be announced soon.

Speakers

See who's speaking so far. Watch for additional speakers in the coming weeks.

Shirronda Almeida

Massachusetts Associations of Community Development Corporations

Evette Banfield

The Coalition DC

Maya Brennan

The Coalition

Michael Browning

SECURE CA

Jeremy Carter

NALCAB

Kevin Cronin

Housing Oregon

Yari DeJesus

Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations

Daniel Elkin

Come Dream Come Build

Kristin Ginger

Housing Action Illinois

Stephen Glaude

The Coalition DC

Chloe Grainger

National NeighborWorks Association

Matt Hull

Texas Association of Community Development Corporations

Kari Johnson

Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers

Sharon Legenza

Housing Action Illinois

Noelle Lentz

Allivate Impact Capital

Melina Lodge

Housing Network of Rhode Island

Melanie Luckenbaugh

Community Action Association of Pennsylvania

Sharon Morris

Omni Development Corporation

Jonathan Nazeer

South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development

Emi Reyes

Latino Economic Development Center

Julia Robinson

Ohio CDC Association

Heidi Schoonover

Truist

Douglas Sessions

NeighborWorks America

Paul Singh

NeighborWorks America

Chanse Sonsalla

Community Opportunity Alliance

Laura Tomassi-Miller

Upwell Fundraising Advisory

Dawne Troupe

Community Opportunity Alliance

Claudia Wilson Randall

Community Development Network of Maryland

Joanna Winchester

Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations

Frank Woodruff

Community Opportunity Alliance

Tours & Dinners
Choose from three tours led by local community development leaders on August 25:

  • Healthy homes, urban farming, and culturally-appropriate food access — West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation

  • Mixed-use conversion of a historic mill, including Millrace Kitchen for food entrepreneurs — NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley 

  • Community-driven redevelopment of blighted properties — Omni Development Corporation

COA members will gather for Regional Caucus Dinners at local restaurants with peers from their section of the country on August 24. 
Hotel & Transportation
Stay at the hotel where the conference will be held.

Hotel: Omni Providence Hotel

Location: 1 W Exchange Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Discounted Rate: $189 per room, excluding tax and fees

Hotel Reservation Deadline: Thursday, July 16 

Reserve Your Room: Our room block may be full before the registration deadline.

By Air: T.F. Green Airport (PVD) in Warwick  is about 10 miles from the hotel. Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) is about 50 miles from the hotel. You can take the MBTA commuter rail from either airport to Providence Station. Leave ample time from BOS.

By Train: The hotel is a 0.4 mile walk from Providence Station, which is served by Amtrak and MBTA commuter rail.

Getting Around: Downtown Providence is walkable, with rideshares and taxis readily available.

Hotel Parking: Overnight valet parking is $38 plus taxes and fees with unlimited in/out privileges.

Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors for strengthening the community development field.

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