NDC Academy 2011

Lunch with NDC
General Session
11am-1pm

Join the NDC experts you’ve met in the classroom and in your communities for a light lunch and conversation. Connect with our practitioners from across the country before they take to the lectern at the NDC Academy 2011.

Using Tax-Exempt Bonds to Support Community Revitalization
Track 1: Creative Financing
1-3:30pm

For more than two decades, there has been a continuing attrition of resources available for local housing and economic redevelopment and community renewal. The conundrum: without resources, how can we build our local economy, but without a healthy economy, how do we generate resources? Many states and localities have found a solution to dwindling resources by banking on their futures-identifying future revenue streams that will be generated by development and turning to financial markets to capitalize those streams. This session explores the different kinds of revenue streams that might be associated with specific future development activities and projects and ways in which they can be used to raise capital in the present. They include Tax Increment Financing (using real estate, sales, hotel and convention, or other targeted taxes); and PILOT revenue as some examples of this approach. Learning how to identify those sources and turn them into funds to assist redevelopment efforts is the focus of the session.

Business Development Finance and Job Creation Programs
Track 2: Job Creation
1-3:30pm

In this course, experienced practitioner and novice professional alike get a solid overview of state-of-the-art economic development finance for small businesses - both the core of basic methods and tools, and the newest techniques and applications. Financing resources for all job creation projects and activities are included in this session. Using actual projects, the course addresses the following specific topics and more:

• Fixed asset and permanent working capital financing
• Small business real estate
• Key participants and their roles
• Financing structures, including subordinated financing
• U.S. Small Business Administration financing
• HUD Community Development Block Grants, including Section 108
• Tax Increment Financing
• Revolving loan funds
• HUD CDBG financing tools

Housing Development Finance Programs
Track 3: Affordable Housing
1-3:30pm
Housing, and especially affordable housing, is still at the heart of every community development strategy. The practice has become more and more sophisticated in the past few decades with many stakeholders, different techniques, and new and evolving tools. This comprehensive overview of affordable housing finance and development is designed for both non-profit and public sector housing development practitioners. The course addresses the following topics and more:

• HUD resources
• Tax-exempt bonds
• Low-Income Housing Tax Credits
• Types of projects that can be done with each program
• Key issues for developers and funders

Foundations and Community Development
Track 4: Community Development
1-3:30pm

Foundations have played a critical leadership role in community development since the beginning of the movement in the 1960s. Through the decades since, their financial support and innovative thinking have pushed the frontiers of good policy and effective practice. In recent years, many have adopted strategies beyond grant-making toward a policy of strategic investment to create social value through healthy and sustainable communities. This session explores current thinking and specific examples of how foundations are maximizing the impact of their investments.

Going Green for Community Development
Track 1: Creative Financing
3:30-5:30pm

Congress has provided a number of Federal subsidies in support of our national energy and environmental policies, including the Production Tax Credit, Investment Tax Credit and the 1603 Grant in Lieu of Tax Credits. A number of states have similar incentives. NDC recognized that these can be used as resources for community development as well as for energy and environmental goals. We have developed creative financing for community development projects that incorporate renewable energy facilities, taking full advantage of all available financing tools. This session covers:

• Financing tools, both Federal and state
• Deal structuring
• Long-term project benefits of renewable energy

CDBG Finacing Tools
Track 2: Job Creation
3:30-5:30pm

CDBG is the stalwart mainstay in community and economic development financing. Since CDBG’s inception over 40 years ago, NDC’s finance professionals have been experts in identifying and developing the best ways to use CDBG funds for both long-term and short-term financing. NDC helped create and continually refine the HUD Section 108 program and CD Float - powerful leveraging tools for community development: flexible, accessible for creative structuring and irreplaceable. Real economic development projects are used to explore the following topics and more:

• CDBG regulations
• Meeting the “National Objective” and “Public Benefit” tests
• Eligible uses for Section 108
• The Section 108 application and approval process
• Underwriting
• Defeasing a Section 108 loan
• Using CD Float as a source of low-cost, short-term financing

Computer Mapping and Modeling
Track 3: Affordable Housing
3:30-5:30pm

For any community development initiative that is location-based, mapping brings together in one place geographic data on key relevant variables. But how do you make sense of the multitude of statistics from demographics, income and employment to vacancy rates, home ownership, jobs, school performance scores… and more? Get acquainted with the tools used to put these data to work, efficiently deploying scarce resources where they are needed most.

Home-Grown Community Development: Realizing Opportunity Right Next Door
Track 4: Community Development
3:30-5:30pm

Colleges, universities and hospitals are playing an increasingly active role in the revitalization of the neighborhoods surrounding their campuses. Long viewed as islands unto themselves, these institutions are transforming entire neighborhoods with their willingness to invest in their home communities. Unlocking the economic potential of these community institutions is the focus of this session. Learn how to capitalize on the location of community institutions, incorporating them as the foundation of a successful locally-based redevelopment strategy.

Plenary Session: Navigating Changing Times
General Session
9am-12pm

The NDC Academy 2011 is strategically timed so that we can take stock of the new Congress, only a few short months into its term; so that we can hear what the executive branch is planning for its programs; and so that we can learn how our practice may be affected by shifting rules and regulations. A sampling of what this session will cover:

• The new Congress
• The 2011 Federal budget
• 2011 appropriations
• New CRA regulations
• Program updates: CDFI, CDBG, SBA, NMTC

And as more emerges from Congress and the Administration in the first months of the year, those matters will be added to the Plenary Session so that we can all be ready to work with the best and latest information.

Keynote Lunch: Pam Flaherty, Citi Foundation and Ben Hecht, Living Cities
General Session
12-1:30pm

Sit down with your colleagues for lunch and hear a special keynote address from Ben Hecht, President and CEO of Living Cities and Pam Flaherty, President and CEO of the Citi Foundation, that will inform and inspire you as you head to NDC Academy 2011 classroom sessions over the next two days.

Putting the Public Back in Public-Private Partnerships: Innovative Approaches to Financing Municipal Buildings
Track 1: Creative Financing
2-3:30pm

Most communities need to look beyond conventional approaches for financing and building public facilities. Whether they have reached their debt limits or they want to get projects built faster and more efficiently, there are methods and tools that enable a non-profit organization to develop and own such projects, lease them to the governmental entities and eventually transfer them to public ownership. Learn more about this approach from members of the development team themselves, including financing options, cost and time savings, and how this development method differs from conventional approaches.

NMTCs for Small Business Lending
Track 2: Job Creation
2-3:30pm

The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program has provided substantial investment in low-income areas since its inception in 2000. While most of the transactions have been real estate developments with total project costs over $5 million, NMTCs are also a great resource to support small business development. Learn how NDC’s Grow America Fund has used NMTCs for small business lending, making loans as small as $190,000 to operating businesses and providing small businesses in New Markets-eligible communities the benefits of low interest and deferred principal payments.

LIHTCs: Navigating the Times
Track 3: Affordable Housing
2-3:30pm

After nearly 25 years, the Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program remains the major source of financing for affordable housing development across the country. While there are other financing sources and mechanisms, no serious affordable housing program operates without LIHTCs. This session provides a description of the LIHTC program and explains how it works. Participants learn the threshold criteria for using the credits and how to calculate credits for a project using real-world cases. The session also covers recent changes to LIHTC legislation and the current investor environment.

Rural Community Development
Track 4: Community Development
2-3:30pm

In the context of community development, rural housing, real estate and small business development share many characteristics with their urban and suburban counterparts. But because they take place in a very different environment, they face challenges specific to their rural context. While the pool of resources available for rural development includes many that are available to all areas, it also includes Federal programs that were created just for rural areas. This course investigates both the challenges specific to rural development and the general and targeted resources available. Rural financing resources from the USDA are explored in detail with a review of other programs and their applicability in rural areas including:

• Low-Income Housing and Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits
• Private Activity and Mortgage Revenue Bonds
• CDBG, EDA and Federal Home Loan Bank programs
• HUD programs: Section 108, CD Float, HOME funds

Healthy Food Retail
Track 1: Creative Financing
3:30-5pm

The Healthy Food Financing Initiative was created to expand access to nutritious foods, including developing and equipping grocery stores and other small businesses and retailers selling healthy food in communities that currently lack these options. Learn the strategy supporting private sector financing of healthy foods options through the Treasury Department, with a set-aside of New Markets Tax Credits and financial assistance to CDFIs devoted to financing healthy food options; USDA loans, grants and other assistance; and HHS grants.

The Small Business Jobs Act
Track 2: Job Creation
3:30-5pm

2010 was the year that Congress and the President were finally able to address the effects of the credit crisis and the recession on small business credit. Acknowledging the importance of small business in our national and local economies, they have put in place a variety of measures to provide credit on terms that fit the needs of small businesses and boost their ability to survive, grow and create jobs. NDC was very active in Washington, advocating for those changes, and NDC’s Grow America Fund (GAF), our small business lending program, wasted no time in deploying them in our lending, resulting in the highest loan volume in the program’s history. Hear our GAF and other experts discuss:

• The U.S. Treasury’s $30 billion Small Business Loan Fund
• SBA’s Small Loan Advantage program
• SBA’s Community Advantage program
• Changes in SBA’s 7(a) program in loan size and business size criteria
• Changes in SBA’s 504 program

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program
Track 3: Affordable Housing
3:30-5pm

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) was established to help stabilize communities that have suffered from foreclosures and abandonment through the purchase and redevelopment of foreclosed and abandoned homes and residential properties. It has provided grants to states and local governments on a formula basis (NSP1 and NSP3) and on a competitive basis (NSP2), as well as funds to national and local technical assistance providers through NSP Technical Assistance. This panel will cover the latest in NSP implementation and policy decisions straight from the HUD program officials at the helm and members of NDC’s Technical Assistance consortium who are deploying NSP resources nationwide.

HUD Sustainable Communities Initiative
Track 4: Community Development
3:30-5pm

The HUD Sustainable Communities Initiative was established to create strong, sustainable communities by connecting housing to jobs, fostering local innovation and helping to build a clean energy economy. By ensuring that housing is located near job centers and affordable, accessible transportation, we will nurture healthier, more inclusive communities - which provide opportunities for people of all ages, incomes, races and ethnicities to live, work and learn together. Join this session for a comprehensive overview of the newest HUD resource and how you can hit the ground running in your community.

Capitol Hill Reception
General Session
6-7:30pm

We invite you to join us for an evening on Capitol Hill. Network with legislators and Congressional staff, policymakers, program officials and colleagues, enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres and celebrate the work of our community partners, who are putting development finance programs to work generating investments, jobs, and economic and housing opportunities in communities across the country.

And cast your votes for the Project Showcase finalists! The projects you select will be presented in detail on Wednesday morning by the project participants themselves and honored at the NDC Academy 2011 Awards Luncheon.

Project Showcases
All Tracks
8:30-9:30am

NDC community partners throughout the country are among the most dedicated and creative community development professionals in the business. These sessions showcase some of their most challenging and creative projects, and participants will get an opportunity to learn how they took those projects from concept to reality. In addition to informal presentations, question-and-answer sessions will provide an opportunity to explore the details of their problem-solving strategies and the constraints and road blocks they overcame. Projects presented in these four sessions will be honored with NDC recognition awards at the luncheon following the day’s morning classroom sessions. Select the project showcase session that most interests you from the four track-specific categories:

Track I: Creative Financing
Track II: Job Creation
Track III: Affordable Housing
Track IV: Community Development

The Next Level of NMTCs
Track 1: Creative Financing
10am-1pm

If you already know the basics of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program (or have just learned them in our NMTCs for Small Business Lending course) or if you know what a QLICI, QALICB and QEI are, this course will take you to the next level of understanding in using the NMTC program. It presents real projects, real numbers and real problems, and shows you how to structure a real transaction. Whether you are already a CDE with an allocation, or hoping to become one, or whether you are planning to seek NMTCs for a project, this material will help you get the most out of the program.

Revolving Loan Funds
Track 2: Job Creation
10am-1pm

This is a session for professionals who are designing, administering and maintaining public loan funds and need an overview of sound management principles. Learn the techniques critical to the overall success of the fund and the long-term ability to “revolve” dollars into investment for other activities.

Asset Management for Affordable Housing
Track 3: Affordable Housing
10am-1pm

Financing, building and leasing an affordable housing project are just the beginning of responsibility for successful housing and community development. It’s the next fifty years that matter, and the asset manager performs a vital role in maintaining quality affordable housing developments. Good asset management is invaluable to all involved parties, from investors to lenders to the residents this housing serves. Participants learn the tools of risk management, including spread sheet analysis and problem solving, that can aid in diagnosing future problems and methods to address them. Understand how asset management actually starts when a project is in the planning process. The course shows you how to do that by exploring the following topics and more:

• Asset management responsibilities and goals
• The role of asset management throughout the planning, development and operating phases
• Identifying, assembling and managing the asset management team
• Asset management vs. property management
• Tools, procedures and processes

Main Street Finance: Mixed-Use Real Estate
Track 4: Community Development
10am-1pm

Neighborhoods are at their best when “Main Street” pulses with the activities that bring a community alive-retail, entertainment, services, public facilities and common areas. There are many financial tools available for Main Street redevelopment and if brought together in the right way, for the right uses, they can do the job. Older Main Streets have special opportunities for adaptive reuse and new construction-with buildings that are ideally suited to retrofitting multiple uses in one structure. But how do you use single-purpose financing tools to structure financing for a mixed-use facility? What instruments are available and appropriate? What if their criteria seem to be contradictory? This session answers those questions and explores the following topics:

• Challenges of mixed-use development
• Mixed-use opportunities
• Community facilities on Main Street
• Inventory: What do you have to work with?
• Tax credits
• Mixing financing: the right recipe

NDC Academy 2011 Awards Luncheon
General Session 
1-2:30pm

NDC is pleased to honor our community development partners for their hard work and ingenuity. Academy attendees will have the opportunity to learn about their innovative projects at the Capitol Hill Reception and to ask questions of the deal-doers themselves in the Project Showcases. Cast your vote for the projects that inspire you the most and congratulate the peer-selected winners at the NDC Academy 2011 Awards Luncheon.