About the Conference

The 2023 NRHC will be held October 24 – 27, 2023 at The Capital Hilton in Washington, DC.

The biennial NRHC brings together rural affordable housing and community development leaders, practitioners, policy makers, funders, industry experts, and partners for four days of learning and networking.

The 2023 NRHC theme is Build Rural. Thriving rural communities don’t happen by accident. It takes collaborative effort, leadership, investment and planning to build equitable and just communities. Build Rural is both a literal and figurative appeal to explore and provoke action to build and renew rural communities by addressing housing affordability and preservation, community infrastructure and essential facilities creation and revitalization, resident led placemaking, capacity building, and community inclusion and justice efforts. Build Rural is a platform to share successes and best practices for addressing the nexus of housing and community development. It’s a space to highlight and enhance the narrative of rural America through presentations of stories, data, programs, policies, and approaches.

Workshops should seek to align themselves with the conference theme or one of the following threads: Housing Affordability, Development, Preservation, Community Facilities, Rural Prosperity, Placemaking, Capacity Building, Housing Justice, or other adjacent threads.

About the Workshops

Workshops are intended to facilitate the active exchange of approaches and ideas. HAC recognizes learning landscapes have changed in recent years and aims to have workshops that engage participants in meaningful and beneficial ways.

Focused Workshops are 45 minutes. They should seek to provide exposure to new ideas, techniques, or approaches or provide concentrated engagement for participants. Focused workshops should allow at least 10 minutes for Q&A.

Standard Workshops are 90 minutes. A standard workshop could provide the time required to address more a complex or nuanced issue; allow additional presenters to provide a variety of examples or viewpoints; provide for discussion, case study, an activity, etc. Standard workshops should include 15 minutes for Q&A.

The NRHC is paperless (except when needed for workshop engagement). All workshop materials and information will be available via the conference app and website.

In addition to workshops that expand participants’ knowledge of traditional affordable housing and community development practices, HAC encourages workshops that address:

• Placemaking
• Health and community connections
• Nonprofit financial management
• Housing rehab and/or preservation
• Art and design
• Sustainable design and construction
• Alternative homebuilding and construction methods

Workshops on emerging topics or new approaches on perennial issues are encouraged.

Selection Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria. The order below does not reflect importance.

• Diversity, equity, inclusion, and housing justice
• Interest and relevance to conference participants
• Experience and organization of the presentation team
• Potential to contribute to a balanced conference program
• Presentation engagement and approach

Submission of a workshop proposal does not guarantee acceptance.

Submission Guidelines

HAC invites interested parties to submit workshop proposals.

Proposals should include the following information:

TOPIC

• Workshop title
• Topic(s) the workshop will address
• Impact Statement – Describe why the workshop is relevant to rural affordable housing and/or community development

PRESENTER(S)

• Workshop Coordinator
• Workshop Presenters, proposed and confirmed
• Experience that makes the workshop team suited for organizing and presenting the workshop

FORMAT

• Preference for a 45-minute or 90-minute workshop session
• Presenter location(s) – Will presenter(s) be on site and/or present virtually?
• Brief workshop outline
• How diversity, equity, inclusion, and housing justice are addressed
• Required resources (other than laptop, projector, Wi-Fi, or flipchart)