Housing Authority of Champaign County Receives National Recognition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Housing Authority of Champaign County Receives National Recognition
July 8, 2019. - The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) recently honored Housing with four 2019 Awards of Merit. The winning projects were: Emergency Family Shelter in Affordable Housing; Art Therapy Program in Resident and Client Services, Electronic File Conversion in Administrative Innovation, and The Manor at Prairie Crossing in Project Design.
The Emergency Family Shelter Program provides temporary shelter and intensive case management services for homeless families with dependent children. The Emergency Family Shelter is a partnership between the Champaign County Homeless Continuum of Care, United Way of Champaign County, and Champaign County Regional Planning. Art therapy sessions had been implemented in two of the Champaign County Senior buildings, Washington Square and Steer Place. There was a need for engaging activities for the seniors in the two most populated buildings and this guided painting sessions are a very effective way to engage people that can socialize while they interact with art guided instruction and participate in an activity that can relieve stress and provide a secure and safe environment within the building that is guided by a professional in the Art field. The Moving to Work Housing Choice Voucher Program scanned participant files into the Tenmast Winten 2+ computer software system. This helped improve the department's work efficiency by eliminating the time it takes to manually file documents and search for information. The Prairie Manor is three one-story buildings with units that had one bedroom, one bathroom, a den, in unit laundry, covered patio, and an attached garage. Because of the vouchers, our agency had much more flexibility in selecting residents that we would not have if we would have used the tax credit financing.
"Congratulations to our 2019 Awards of Merit recipients," said NAHRO President Carl S. Richie, Jr. "I am so proud of the great work they're doing for their clients and their communities."
The NAHRO Awards of Merit program was created 20 years ago to recognize agencies who found innovative ways of making a difference in their communities and in the lives of the people they serve by creating affordable housing, revitalizing their neighborhoods, and developing initiatives such as job readiness programs, public-private partnerships, disaster prevention projects, and more.
"The Awards of Merit catalog is more than a list of winners," said NAHRO CEO Adrianne Todman. "It's a yearly compendium of some of the best work being done by housers and community builders nationwide. Congratulations to this year's honorees!"
Contact: Ashley Short 2008 N. Market St. Champaign, IL
About NAHRO
NAHRO, established in 1933, is a membership organization of nearly 20,000 housing and community development agencies and professionals throughout the United States whose mission is to create affordable housing and safe, viable communities that enhance the quality of life for all Americans, especially those of low- and moderate-income. NAHRO's membership administers more than 3 million housing units for 7.6 million people.
