GACE members,

Below are links to some great free resources as well as a scholarship opportunity provided by the Center for Community Progress:

 

Reevaluating Code Enforcement
A New Approach to Addressing Problem Properties
Published: February 2024

https://communityprogress.org/publications/code-enforcement-report/

 

A code enforcement scholarship, no cash required from the local govt:

https://communityprogress.org/services/technical-assistance/scholarships/

 

 

Thank you to the Center for Community Progress for sharing this information with our membership.

 

Christopher Jones

 

Application Opens: February 22, 2024
Application Review Period: April 1, 2024, on a rolling basis
Application Closes: May 31, 2024, or when scholarship funding has been exhausted
Scholarship Period: April 2024–December 15, 2024

 

Eligible Applicants

Local governments that serve jurisdictions with populations between 25,000 and 500,000 (based on 2020 Census) are eligible to apply. Strong preference will be given to communities with significant levels of VAD properties.

Eligible Activities

This round of TAS has an exclusive focus on helping local governments reevaluate their housing and building code enforcement systems to address VAD properties. Such activities may include:

• Exploring the implementation of any of the recommended core policies in our new publication, Reevaluating Code Enforcement: A New Approach to Problem Properties;
• Educating and engaging key decision-makers, community partners, and code enforcement staff to build consensus and support for a shift from traditional code enforcement to strategic code compliance;
• Conducting a review of current code enforcement practices and policies through the lens of racial equity and justice, and identifying reforms that yield more equitable outcomes;
• Helping departments gather and analyze data and outcomes of current practices, and rethinking data practices and metrics that align with the primary goals of compliance and equity;
• Designing new programs, partnerships or educational resources that represent a shift from a punitive to a compliance-oriented approach; or
• Identifying local and/or state legal barriers, and providing guidance on how to introduce, champion, and win critical policy reforms.

 

Also, Reclaiming Vacant Properties conference is Oct 9-11 in St Louis