MHP President Honored By National NeighborWorks® Association as Practitioner of the Year

MHP President Honored By National NeighborWorks® Association as

Practitioner of the Year

The National NeighborWorks® Association (NNA) announced yesterday the winners of its 13th Annual Excellence Awards – presented annually to outstanding practitioners in the field of housing and community development. The Awards were announced at the Annual NeighborWorks® Executive Directors Symposium, sponsored by Citi Community Development.

Montgomery Housing Partnership (MHP) President, Robert Goldman was selected as NNA’s Practitioner of the Year. This Award recognizes an executive director, staff, or board member who has been particularly successful with special projects, turnaround accomplishments, internal operations, best practices, and/or any other special accomplishment or contribution to the industry and the NeighborWorks Network.

Highlights of MHP’s accomplishments under the leadership of Goldman during the past year include:

• In 2016 MHP’s work expanded beyond just acquisition rehab into new construction One is the Bonifant at Silver Spring; a new high rise development with 149 units of mixed-income housing for older adults ages 62+; 139 of the 149 units are affordable. The Bonifant is the first residential property built alongside a public-use facility in Montgomery County and is part of a new innovative effort to use county-owned land to increase the supply of affordable housing to lower-income residents.
• MHP also provides an array of K-5 afterschool enrichment programs for children living at or near its properties. Three years ago, only 20 percent of 3rd graders served were reading at grade level, by the end of the last school year, 70 percent of these kids, now attending 5th grade, were at grade level.
• MHP led the financial response to the 2016 explosion in the Long Branch Community of Montgomery County that left 7 dead and 63 families displaced. MHP raised more than $800,000 for the Fund, which was distributed quickly to the victims. MHP staff spent close to 900 hours working on relief efforts.

The award-winners were selected by a jury composed of three industry-related executives from outside the NeighborWorks network, as well as last year’s winners.