Posts Tagged ‘fun’

Housing Conference Session Highlights 2010

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

MCOAH logo

In order to attend these sessions, be sure to register for the conference at www.housingconference.org.

This week’s featured sessions are all about the Internet.  If you want to create or improve a web presence for your nonprofit organization, these sessions are for you! If you don’t know what the heck a web presence is, these sessions are for you! Even if you’re satisfied with your current web presence, the Cut Through the Online Noise session can help you save time and stay up-to-date on the websites that matter to you.

Tuesday April 27

How to Ruin Your Reputation on the Internet (Repeated: 8:30-10:00 am, 10:15-11:45 am)

Find out how the things you do – or don’t do – online might be hurting the reputation of your organization. Then learn how to create a more credible and useful web presence for your nonprofit. Topics will include updating, layout, fact-checking, and tone – but you can ask the experts anything. This interactive session is based on CEDAM Communications Intern Olivia Courant’s “How to Ruin Your Reputation on the Internet” blog series and features three of Lansing’s finest social media experts: Lisa Sommer, Michelle Smith, and Ari B. Adler.

Cut Through the Online Noise: Get Only the Information You Need with RSS (10:15-11:45 am)

Overwhelmed by the amount of content on the Internet? Did you know that there is an easy, free way to read updates to ALL your favorite websites and blogs (even Twitter accounts!) in one place? Come to this hands-on workshop to learn what a feed reader is and how it can change the way you work, helping you access your most important Internet resources efficiently and effectively. Volunteers will help you set up your own personal feed reader with the information you want to see. Contact Katie (johnson@cedam.info) to reserve a computer, or bring your own laptop.

One-Hour Websites: Get the Website Your Nonprofit Needs Right Here, Right Now (Repeated: 1:45-3:15 pm, 3:30-5:00 pm)

In today’s world, if you don’t have a website, you are invisible. But how can you create a website when you don’t know HTML, you can’t afford expensive software, and you don’t have hours a week to spend updating it? If your small nonprofit needs a website but you don’t know where to start, start here. After helping you figure out your communications goals and website needs, expert volunteers will help you set up a free, easy-to-maintain Facebook fan page or WordPress site. You will walk out of this workshop with a working website for your organization. Contact Katie (johnson@cedam.info) to reserve a computer, or bring your own laptop. You will also need to bring information and pictures for that you want to share on your new website (it’s best to email it to yourself or bring it on a USB stick).

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Announcing CEDAM & CDAD Annual Membership Event

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

All conference attendees are cordially invited to the CEDAM and CDAD 12th Annual Celebration on Tuesday, April 27 from 5:30 pm-9:00 pm. This year the Celebration will be held directly across the street from the Lansing Center at H. Urban Lounge, one of Lansing’s newest sophisticated nightspots.

Come gather with your friends and colleagues from Michigan’s community economic development industry and enjoy delicious appetizers, cash bar, door prizes, music, and the screening of several short promotional films featuring CEDAM and CDAD members.

Tickets to attend are $30 for CEDAM/CDAD members and $40 for non-members. RSVP and buy tickets online, or get the mailing address to pay for tickets via check here. We look forward to seeing you there!

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Capital Day Fall 2009 Recap

Monday, November 30th, 2009

On Tuesday, November 10, 2009, CEDAM held its second Capital Day in partnership with the Asset Building Policy Project and the Michigan Foreclosure Task Force. The event was a great success, with 57 individuals from 38 organizations converging in Lansing to meet with 30 representatives and 21 senators.

Tiffany Lemieux-McKissic, CEDAM’s Manager of Membership and Communications, has created a fantastic 4-minute video with footage and information from Capital Day. If you attended, this is a great way to remember the event and tell others about it. If you missed out this time, you can see what the event was like. We encourage you to join us in 2010!

In addition to Tiffany, for her great work on the video, we would like to thank the following individuals and organizations:

If you attended and have not yet filled out an evaluation, please do so here to help us improve future events. To see policy materials from Capital Day, visit our Advocacy Resources page.

Last but not least, here are a few of the comments we’ve received from people who attended.

  • “Great job on the event – all of your work made it so much easier to meet and establish relationships with our legislators!”
  • “Both my contacts did what I asked and it also followed to a TV show with [my representative] to talk about foreclosure scams. Good for the public, for [my rep] and for [my organization].”
  • “Capital Day was a great event.  It is good to be aware of specific bills that are in the legislature and of those which we can have an opportunity to lobby on.  I also enjoyed networking with other agencies from around Michigan who are involved in similar work.  Overall, the event was well organized, informative, and a great opportunity to be a part of a democracy. “
  • “This was a positive experience for me…. I will follow the issues much more closely as a result of my experience.”
  • “I would be very comfortable participating in the future.”
  • “I am very happy to have signed up and come to Capital Day.”

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Posted in Asset Building, Events, Foreclosure, Policy | No Comments »

Best Practice: Selling Homes in a Weak Market

Monday, October 19th, 2009

[This post is part of our Best Practices series.  The series will highlight great ideas that you can apply to your own work.  If you want to share a best practice, contact Tiffany (select Membership on our Contact Form, or 517.485.3588).]

On October 1, 2009, CEDAM staff attended an event called Creative Cents in Lansing. One of our CDC members, the Greater Lansing Housing Coalition (GLHC), created this program as an innovative way to spur interest in four homes that they had rehabilitated but were having difficulty selling in this weak housing market.  The idea came from an interested volunteer who was involved in a similar program in Lafayette, Indiana.

The Creative Cents concept is similar to HGTV’s Design on a Dime television show.  This is how you can implement it in your community:GLHC Creative Cents room at 809 Barber

  1. Invite local colleges or interior designers to volunteer to design one room in each home for sale.
  2. The budget is $300 (or whatever your organization decides), so designers will need to seek discounts or donations to help the dollars stretch.
  3. After the rooms are complete, send a press release and invite media and community members (i.e. potential homeowners) to view the rooms and vote for their favorite.

This is an inexpensive, creative tactic to move houses in a weak market. You can read more press and see photos of the finished rooms at GLHC’s Facebook page (no log-in required).

For more information about this program idea, please come to the session titled “Moving Homes in a Weak Market: An Innovative Best Practice” at the Michigan Conference on Affordable Housing (April 26-28, 2010). GLHC will be presenting this model in great detail during this session.

PS As a result of Creative Cents, GLHC sold a house that had been on the market for 3 years!!

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Contest: Website Scavenger Hunt for Members

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Welcome to the brand new CEDAM blog!  We are excited to reveal the blog, along with the new and improved CEDAM website.

After months of development, we are confident that the site will be a useful resource for you.  Some of the new features include:

  • a more intuitive structure and a more streamlined design
  • this blog
  • a search engine to help you find specific content
  • an interactive calendar to help you find and share events
  • forms to join CEDAM or renew your membership online
  • social media integration: CEDAM now has accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, and more
  • new sections include CEDAM’s history, FAQ, and “Meet the Members”
  • a redesigned policy section, with great advocacy links and frequent updates on pertinent legislation
  • personalize-able RSS feeds of recent news, Career Corner, and blog

To celebrate the launch and encourage you to visit the site, we are sponsoring a scavenger hunt for CEDAM members.  If you are a member, e-mail us with answers to these 7 questions by Friday, October 16 to be entered into a prize drawing!

1. What meeting is CEDAM hosting on December 9, 2009?
2. What is board member Brad Garmon’s other job (besides MEC)?
3. What is the front-page story of the Winter 2008 Community Connections newsletter?
4. What are the three committees of the Michigan Foreclosure Task Force?
5. What job is Community Action-Branch County advertising through CEDAM?
6. What is the status of SB 641 as of September 25?
7. Who inspires CEDAM member Don Jones?

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Posted in All Things CEDAM, Events | No Comments »

Aloha from CEDAM!

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Tiffany_LMHello, I’m Tiffany Lemieux-McKissic and I am the Manager of Membership and Communications here at CEDAM.

Our new website is awesome and I can’t wait to begin blogging about our members and the incredible work that you are engaged in. Look for ‘Member Spotlight’ features from me that highlight different member organizations across the state. I will also be blogging about state-wide Best Practice models in the CED industry.

If you are curious about me, I am 28 years old and a proud wife and mother of two (4 year old daughter Aurora and 4 month old son Xavier). In my spare time (ha-ha!), I love to read and to travel. My retirement dream is to own a small bed and breakfast in the Caribbean and lay on the beach all day- it’s going to happen so make your reservations now!

Please feel free to contact me if you ever have any suggestions or a great story to share.

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Posted in All Things CEDAM, Best Practices | 1 Comment »

Make Your Own “Wordle”

Friday, July 31st, 2009

At wordle.net, you can enter text and get a decorative, customizable word cloud, or “wordle.”

We tried it with our mission statement and got this:
Wordle: CEDAM

This could be a cheap way to create a thank-you card or office decorations for your organization.  Plus, it’s just fun. Link to your community-development Wordles in the comments.

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