| 8:00 AM – 3:45 PM |
| 9:00 – 10:00 AM 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. Speaker:
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| 9:00 – 10:00 AM AI can help community development organizations improve access to knowledge, reduce staff burden, and better support members and partners. It also raises real questions about trust, fairness, governance, and community impact. This session gives staff and board leaders a practical framework for deciding where AI helps, where it harms, and how to use it responsibly. Speaker: Cate Sauer, Customer Success Manager, Higher Logic |
| 10:30 – 11:45 AM 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:
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| 10:30 – 11:45 AM 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. Speaker:
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| 10:30 – 11:45 AM Federal policy and investment decisions are often shaped long before grant opportunities are announced. This session will explore how community development organizations can strengthen their strategic positioning, engage earlier with policymakers and national research institutions, and better understand what philanthropic and public investors look for when selecting long-term partners. Speakers: Watch this space for an announcement soon. |
| 12:30 – 1:30 PM 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:
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| 2:00 – 3:15 PM 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:
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| 2:00 – 3:15 PM What makes a story newsworthy? Join us for a live pitch clinic, where COA members will pitch real stories to reporters and get candid feedback. We'll also explore how community development associations can become trusted media resources by connecting reporters with local stories, trends, advocates, and experts. Then we'll open the floor for your questions about working effectively with the reporters. Speakers:
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| 4:00 – 5:00 PM Explore Omni Development Corporation's affordable housing communities and see firsthand how deep community engagement shaped each development. Hear how residents, advocates, and private partners came together to create not just homes, but opportunity, pairing quality housing with services like financial counseling, digital literacy training, and free Wi-Fi to support long-term stability. Speaker:
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| 4:00 – 5:00 PM West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation develops affordable housing on formerly-blighted properties in communities that are home to many immigrants and refugees. They launched the Sankova initiative so residents can grow, sell and buy culturally-appropriate food. Come see their affordable housing developments, community gardens, community kitchen, and market featuring locally-produced food. Tour Guide:
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| 4:15 – 5:45 PM Tour the Millrace District in the neighboring city of Woonsocket. Learn how NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley converted three historic manufacturing buildings into 70 affordable apartments including live/work units, commercial space, and the Millrace Kitchen — an event venue and commercial kitchen supporting food entrepreneurs. The Project is the culmination of 15 years of neighborhood planning and resident engagement and ongoing investment in arts and economic development activities. Tour Guide:
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| 6:00 PM |
| 6:30 PM |