Stop, Collaborate and Listen.
At this year’s “un-conference,” we’re featuring four interactive workshops to help you bring about the future of the housing industry. These, in addition to our Experience Lab, will form the interactive backbone of the HousingX program.
Pre-Conference Workshop
The Small Community of Tomorrow
How to Attract and Retain New Residents, Create Innovative Amenities, Build 3D Printed Housing, and Find the Funding to Pay for It
Presented by Zachary Mannheimer
with Libby Crimmings, President, and Alex Holland, Vice President of Altas Community Studios
About Libby Crimmings
Born and raised in Des Moines, IA, Libby grew up in a world of fine art, politics, and real estate. Following her love of art and storytelling, Libby earned a B.A. in Fine Art and Design with an emphasis in Advertising from Iowa State University, an Art Therapy Certificate from Grand View University, and studied Art Direction at Brainco Minneapolis School of Advertising.
After working on private development projects in Santa Fe, NM, and Minneapolis, MN Libby returned to Des Moines, as many young professionals do, realizing the quality of life is high and the cost of living is low. Since returning to Iowa, Libby has served as a Legislative assistant in the Iowa legislature, Midwest Field Director for Bono’s ONE Campaign, and Director of Global Programs and Partnerships at the World Food Prize.
Through her wide-ranging career, Libby has always sought to improve lives, build community, and be a catalyst for change, uniting people under a grand vision. As Vice President of Atlas, Libby has relished the opportunity to do all these things: bringing passionate people together through grassroots community development, creating plans for rural communities to grow and thrive.
Named a 2018 Forty Under 40 by the Des Moines Business Record, Libby has also received the Governors Volunteer award and is a Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute graduate. She actively supports many local organizations, leads a series of events focused on making Des Moines a better place, and is currently a Foundation Board member at On With Life, a world-class brain injury rehabilitation center in Ankeny.
Libby enjoyed a short career as a professional athlete as a wide receiver for the New Mexico Burn, a women’s professional football team. She is a trained artist who loves painting custom murals and mixed media pieces in her “free time” and occasionally shoots with her husband, Joe Crimmings, a professional photographer and creative director. Joe and Libby have three children, two dogs, and love traveling, camping, creating, sports, music, cheese, and all things Midwest.
About Alex Holland
As a third-generation Nevadan, Alex grew up in the Las Vegas Valley and attended high school in the heart of downtown where she experienced a unique microcosm of urbanism while residing in “the entertainment capital of the world.” At 17, she moved across the country after accepting a soccer scholarship to attend the University of Louisiana-Monroe (ULM), where she experienced a vibrant and vastly different cross-section of American life. After graduating with degrees in Political Science and Criminal Justice, Alex began preparing to move back to the west coast but decided against her original plan and chose to stay in the rural southern town she fell in love with as a freshman in college.
Immersed in the local community, Alex coached youth soccer, managed a locally owned gym, and pursued her Master of Business Administration at ULM. During this time, she also worked in collaboration with faculty and staff from three universities and the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) to conduct professional development training for community leaders located throughout the eight-state Mississippi River Delta region. Eventually, Alex moved to Washington, DC after accepting a position with DRA and in her various roles, she assisted the agency with the development of federal programs and interagency initiatives designed to enhance economic opportunity for individuals and businesses residing in the Delta region. At DRA, she focused her efforts on establishing public-private partnerships, scaling innovative workforce training models, fostering place-based development, and capacity building for state and local elected officials. In 2017, Alex developed the Delta Creative Placemaking Initiative, a program designed to improve the quality of life in rural areas by investing in existing assets, cultural amenities, and entrepreneurial community development programs. Alex continues to advise DRA and other public entities on federal program development such as the $30 million Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities partnership program with the U.S. Department of Labor, Appalachian Regional Commission, and DRA.
After her stint in public service, Alex was inspired and ready to take on new challenges so she joined the team at Atlas Community Studios to expand her range of economic and community development work in the Delta region and beyond. Alex resides in Washington, DC and spends her downtime exploring new places and meeting interesting people, perusing local bookstores, reliving the glory days playing on her recreational soccer team, and can be found cheering on her favorite sports teams throughout the year – the Vegas Golden Knights, the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Washington Nationals.
Max Participants: 60 attendees*
Every community wants to attract and retain talent, but the challenge is in the “how.” In this session, you will join your peers in determining how to solve economic development challenges based on real-life circumstances in small and rural communities throughout the U.S. From housing to cultural amenities to workforce development programs, we will work together to determine how community leaders can advance projects from ideation to implementation—including where they can find the funding to do it.
The maximum attendance for this workshop will be 60 people. Please indicate if you are interested by checking the box when you register. Seats will be assigned to the first 60 attendees who register and all others will be placed on a waiting list.
Tuesday, May 24th, 12:30pm – 2:15pm
Salon IV/V
UPDATED LOCATION
The following three workshops will take place concurrently on Wednesday, May 25th at 10:30am in Salon III, Salon IV/V, and Blue Point.
A Crash Course in Impact
A Practical Approach to Developing Meaningful Places
Presented by Anna Mackay
Max Participants: 28 attendees*
Salon III
Learn the Sister City Approach to placemaking. This workshop is a place-based exercise in developing a theoretical Meaningful Place (on a real site!) that considers the neighborhood and its needs. Attendees will leave with practical skills around community assessment, design, and financial modeling.
Designing and Facilitating Flawless Virtual Collaboration
Presented by Carlos Valdes-Dapena
Max Participants: 70 attendees*
Salon IV & V
Known for challenging the conventional wisdom of corporate team-building, Carlos Valdes-Dapena empowers teams to drive higher value to their organizations through High Performance Collaboration. Throughout his 18 year tenure at Mars, Inc., he developed his expertise in collaboration and the keys to group effectiveness through extensive research working directly with brands like M&M’s, Snickers, Ben’s Original Rice, and Wrigley’s Gum.
Currently, he is Managing Principal and founder of Corporate Collaboration Resources, LLC, an organization and group effectiveness consulting firm. He has presented and offered workshops at numerous conferences including the North American Organization Development Network, The Conference Board and the Organization Design Forum.
This workshop is based on decades of experience designing and facilitating remote collaboration as well as extensive research into how thought leaders and organizations today are addressing the challenges of massive remote and hybrid working. Join us to learn a set of guiding principles and specific steps for designing, creating, and running successful virtual (or hybrid) collaborative work sessions.
Get On Board
The Possibilities and Challenges of Promoting Transit-Oriented Communities in Connecticut
Presented by Pete Harrison and Desegregate Connecticut
Max Participants: 50 attendees*
Blue Point
In this workshop, DesegregateCT Director Pete Harrison will review the opportunities and challenges of promoting the organization’s key priority of Transit-Oriented Communities in Connecticut. Participants will review land use research pulled from our first-of-its kind Zoning Atlas, discuss winning and losing zoning reform strategies at the local and state level, and explore a brief case study of a TOC Walk Audit conducted by DesegregateCT in a small city in Connecticut.
DesegregateCT is a pro-homes coalition of over 80 nonprofit and neighborhood groups in Connecticut advocating for local and state-wide zoning reforms to create a more equitable, prosperous, and sustainable state. As a program of the Regional Plan Association, DesegregateCT focuses on education, research, and advocacy to provide data-driven solutions to the state’s growing housing crisis.
Pete Harrison is the Director of DesegregateCT. He has over a decade of experience in housing policy and tenant organizing. Previously, he was senior housing policy advisor for Data for Progress, a progressive think tank, where he co-authored the Homes for All report and advised on the presidential campaigns of Vice President Harris, Senators Sanders and Warren, and former HUD Secretary Castro. He also previously researched housing and climate policy at the Buell Center at Columbia University. In another life, Pete co-founded two startup companies and is on faculty at the City University of New York teaching about tech strategy.
*Workshop seats are given to attendees who register earliest. If you are not among that number for your first choice workshop selected at registration, you will be placed in your second choice workshop and added to a waitlist for the first. If your second choice workshop is also full, you will be notified if a seat in either workshop becomes available.
Continuing Education Credits
Several HousingX sessions are being submitted for accreditation by AIA Virginia and APA Virginia. Upon approval, credit hours will be updated in each session’s description. For questions regarding accreditation or other continuing education credits, please contact housingx@housingforwardva.org.
Get Your Tickets Today
Across the nation, innovative designers, thoughtful developers, and tireless advocates are transforming the way we do housing. HousingX is bringing you an experience that you don’t want to miss. From 3D printing, to transit-oriented communities, to planning regulations, we’re bringing you the nation’s most innovative housing experts to Newport News!