Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Episode 112 | Part Two: Tess Hembree, Executive Director of the Council of State Community Development Agencies

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Episode 112 | Part Two: Tess Hembree, Executive Director of the Council of State Community Development Agencies · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is change Makers with Katie Gore finding the right
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: solutions for the affordable housing community.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: I'm continuing my conversation with change Maker Tess Hembriy, the
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: executive director of the Council of State Community Development Agencies.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: We've been discussing her experience at NARO and how those
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: experiences shaped her career. We've also explored the challenges and
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: triumphs of state level community development and highlighted the importance
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: of strong partnerships and advocacy. So, Tess, can you tell
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: me more about COSTA Baby tell us about the type
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: of technical assistance that you're providing to state agencies.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we provide I am very lucky to have
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Jenah Hampton. She worked with me at NARO for a
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: while and she's just come on board with COSTA and
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: she's incredibly knowledgeable about the programs and has worked in
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: housing for a long time. So I'm very happy to
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: have her on board to help navigate the HUD and
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: the congressional legislative landscape, and so our members have us
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: as that resource. But we also offer trainings throughout the year.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: We do CDBG boot Camp in Advanced CDBG boot Camp
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: because we're finding that a lot of our members have
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: new staff in the last couple of years and trying
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: to figure out how to run these programs is incredibly complicated.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: So we do offer trainings for both new staff but
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: also for staff that maybe have been doing this for
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: a couple of years but need to dive deeper into
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: the administration of the CDBG program. So we had we
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: had an advanced boot camp last week actually, and we
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: also offer Disaster Recovery boot Camp, which is something that
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: we developed last year. My predecessor developed to administer the
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: CDBG Disaster Recovery program, which is incredibly complicated, so we
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: did that boot camp last year. Was a training manual
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: that takes communities through like before the storm hits, before
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: your crisis happens, what are the things that you need
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: to be thinking about to set yourself up for success?
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: From what do we do once we receive the CDBGDR
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: supplemental appropriated dollars all the way to grant close out
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: once you've finally completed your project. So we're trying to
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: continue these training opportunities but also think through where are
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: gaps that HUD provides a lot of technical assistance, but
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: where are the gaps there and how can we be
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: better supporting our members trying to efficiently and impactfully use
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: these dollars and with some of the most complicated programs
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: in the country.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: It's interesting you mentioned this because we have previously talked
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: with Mary and McFadden from HUD about the cdbg DR
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: funds and had great conversation about how they're streamlining and
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: getting feedback on that process. What are you seeing as
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: far as the state levels, the local levels, their ability
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: to navigate that CDBGDR component. Are they at the point
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: where everybody's proactively working toward this or are we still
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: kind of in a response situation when disasters happen.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: It really depends on what state and what community you're
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: talking about. Because our Texas and Louisiana members, Florida members, unfortunately,
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: they're very well aware of the process of recovering from
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: a major disaster. So they are Texas members for the
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: ones that helped us really pull together this training that
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: we did last week, and they've got many many disasters,
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: many years of experience, and how their LaGrone she's amazing.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Louisiana members are amazing as well, and they have been
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: great mentors for other states that find themselves in a
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: disaster before. But there's a really big gap between communities
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: that face disasters every year pretty much and communities that
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: are experiencing this for the first time. So we're trying
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: to provide not only the handbook for this, but also
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: create opportunities for our members who have done this many
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: times to network and mentor the other states that maybe
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: haven't had these disasters over and over again. So I
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: think there's a lot of opportunity there to lift up
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: states that all of a sudden, like North Carolina, they've
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: had disasters in the past, but Helene is just unbelievable
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: destruction that I mean, unless you've had a Katrina or
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: something like that in the past, like you don't know
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: how to even begin to rebuild that. And I think
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: there's a lot we can do as CAUSTA to foster
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: those relationships and provide those opportunities so that states that
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: are starting from scratch essentially don't actually have to do that.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: They've got the support that they need.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: So it's a great role that you're doing. You're able
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: to facilitate this exchange of information and really resources among
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: state partners. It's exactly why you guys are so crucial
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: in this industry. I'm sure that this information sharing and
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: collaboration has met some real efficiencies. Any examples that you
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: want to think of, We've been talking about disaster recovery,
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: but I'm sure there's some more anything you'd like to
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: share in that perspective.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: The great thing about COSTA being a convenor of different states.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: Each state has obviously unique needs communities want to see
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: federal dollars used in different ways. But the cool thing
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: is we can bring the states together to share what
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: it is they're doing, and it applies differently in each state.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: So we've seen like our board share Alison George from Colorado.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: Colorado has being an innovator in affordable housing development for years,
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: and their state legislature has been very active. Their governor's
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: very active on providing resources and trying to address the
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: affordable housing crisis. And it's been really interesting to see
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Alison working in this new environment of being very pro
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: affordable housing, which I think is something we haven't seen
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: a lot of in the last couple of decades. But
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: there's not a lot of states that are functioning quite
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: like Colorado is But it's been really fun to see
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: her working with partner states across the country and talking
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: about some of the things that they've been doing, and
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: you can see light bulbs go on, like, Oh, your
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: legislature is doing this, We've got a similar bill in
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: North Carolina, for example, or in Texas or in California.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: This is how you've done this, how you got the
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: bill across the finish line, and now you're thinking about implementation,
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: like how do you utilize these dollars really quickly? How
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: do you make sure that the funding is being executed
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: in the way that was meant to and it has
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: the most impact on the ground. So it's been really
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: cool to see different levels of involvement from state legislatures
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: and states having an impact across the country as well.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: And that's something that we see at conferences a lot,
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: and it's been really fun for me to see.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Is there a specific project that really hits home for
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: you that you were super impressed about. You don't have
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: to necessarily name the name, but if you could describe it,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Is there something that you would love to see replicated
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: or you were just so impressed by.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, all name names, So we just got back from
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: our annual conference in Reno, Nevada, and one of the
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: cool things that we do at our annual conference is
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: do a site visit to different places that have utilized
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: federal dollars. Maybe this one isn't exactly the best example
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: because it's not a non entitlement. Driving out to a
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: non entitlement site in Nevada was going to take hours
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: and hours. So there's the CARES campus. It's a homeless
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: shelter in Reno, Nevada that has just done an amazing
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: job of pulling together different city and state resources on
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: this campus that is just a beautiful site and it's
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: meeting a lot of different needs of different types of
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: homeless populations. So you walk onto this campus and there's
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: initial intake and there's a cold weather shelter. But then
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: you keep walking and they during the pandemic managed to
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: find these huge tents that calling them tents doesn't quite
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: describe it, but they're more like shelters that have tents
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: as walls. But they did this amazing job of creating
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: this huge space to accommodate a very large number of
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: unhoused individuals that are experiencing crisis or just need a
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: place to shelter for the night in this one campus
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: where there's access to medical resources, there's career counselors on site,
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: they can store their things. We say that's a huge thing.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: If you come into a homeless shelter with your stuff,
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: what do you do with it because you can't store
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: it there, and they have storage facilities on site. They
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: had a pet shelter area so that unhoused people that
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: had pets could bring their pets with them and make
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: sure that they were safe as well. It was just
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: this really incredible space that was in downtown Reno, just
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: on the outskirts of downtown Reno, and it really did
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: a good job of showcasing the quick impact of CDBG
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: dollars and how different partners working together for the same
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: goal of addressing the homelessness population and Reno can can
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: really make an impact. And they're still building out portions
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: of this site. They add a smaller area with tiny
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: houses for individuals that didn't feel comfortable or just weren't
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: a good fit for shelter life to make sure that
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: they house them as well. So just a really cool
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: property with people that are incredibly dedicated to helping their neighbors,
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: and it was a really amazing place to see.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Very important and inspiring to hear how successful strategies are working.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: And our goal is to replicate that in other places.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: So I'm glad that you're bringing that forward. One question
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: here as we wrap up, what are some of the
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: goals that you have for the next five years. Maybe
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: share some challenges or trends that you anticipate in the
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: field as we vision forward.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: It's a really fun point in my career, transitioning from
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: focusing solely on legislative issues to getting more into the
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: operations of a nonprofit and really fulfilling a career goal
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: of mind to be able to help people who help people.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: It's just really exciting point for me. And where we
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: are at COSTA is also a really fun point. We
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: just went through a strategic planning process that focuses things
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: like advocacy, growing our membership base, and the board. I've
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: got a really fantastic supportive board and they have through
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: their strategic planning process, given me a lot of room
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: to grow Costa and grow in my career. So I'm
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: really grateful for that and the trust that they've put
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: in me. But the next five years. Really hopeful that
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: we can the same type of culture of advocacy that
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: I was able to help build it Narrow. I'm hopeful
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: that we can build that at Cousta. Just like every
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: state is different, every organization is different, and their advocacy
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: needs and the way they advocate is going to be different.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: And Costa is a very different place than Narrow, and
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: I'm really excited to work with members and find the
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: right fit on advocacy for them because I think we
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: have a lot of work to do in the legislatives
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: here in the next five years. There's going to be
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: a lot of challenges that we as an industry face,
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: but we're also at a point or ten years ago.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: I never imagined that we would be having these kinds
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: of national conversations about affordable housing that we're having, and
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: there's just such a great opportunity to seize on this
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: moment that I'm really excited to do that with Costa.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: I'm also really excited to learn more about running an organization.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: A couple years ago, graduated from an executive Masters in
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: Public Administration program that taught me how to do that,
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: but doing it in real life on the ground is
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: a different beast, and I'm really excited to build out
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: our training opportunities for members and make sure that we
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: are providing as much education as we can to ensure
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: that the states have what they need to serve their
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: community's best. And I'm also just really excited to see
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: where we can grow with our membership and take a
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: look at different opportunities and the disaster recovery and homelessness
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: realm to bring in more people into the fold and
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: build caused out.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Well, you really have the platform to make a difference
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: and your experience in grassroots advocacy is definitely going to help.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: So it is an exciting next few years. I agree
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: with you because affordable housing is on everybody's radar, so
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: it's now up to us to define how we solve this.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: And I think what you guys are doing is you
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: guys are showing different ways that programs and initiatives are
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: being accomplished. So keep the message and keep pushing forward.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: We all need to hear these success stories, don't.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: We Yeah, absolutely, And it can be difficult when you
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: don't see a lot of change from year to year,
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: but it's been really fun over the last ten years
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: or so seeing the changes that have happened well.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: And it's also difficult when all we do is recognize
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: the need too, so that gets really really hard. Yeah,
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: see the sea of need, but we don't see the
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: see of ability to execute. So we're going to stay
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: encouraged and hope that brings creativity and collaboration. So we'll
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: stay in the good fight, won't we.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely well, Tess.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: It has been great talking with you and hearing what
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: the Council of State Community Development Agencies are doing. We
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: are impressed with your leadership and we know that you
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: are going to do a great job with your efforts
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: at the state level. Thank you for taking the time,
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: of course, thanks so much for having me.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to change Makers with Katie Gore. To
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: find out more about Katie, go to quad L dot com.
• 15:10
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• 15:15
  Speaker 1: been a production of Forbes Books Radio