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<p style="font-weight:bold; display: inline; line-height:150%; font-size: 115%;">P.O. BOX 6015 <br />COLUMBIA, MO 65205</p></div>
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<p style="font-size: 150%; font-weight: bold;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</p>
<p style="font-size: 120%; margin-top: -5px; font-weight:bold;">May 22, 2023</p>
<p style="float:right; font-weight:bold; margin-bottom: 25px; font-size: 100%; text-align:right;">CONTACT: Leigh Kottwitz
<br />Neighborhood Services Manager
<br />Community Development
<br />City of Columbia
<br />573.874.7504
<br />Leigh.Kottwitz@CoMo.gov</p>
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<div style="font-size: 110%; line-height:150%;"><h1 style="clear:both; margin-top: 75px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 130%;">City of Columbia selected to address vacant properties at the Vacant Property Leadership Institute</h1>
<div class="content"><span style="padding-left: 50px;">(COLUMBIA, MO)</span> - Columbia is one of ten municipalities across three states that have been selected to send a delegation to the 2023 Vacant Property Leadership Institute (VPLI). VPLI is a training program that equips leaders with the skills to address vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties for the benefit of their communities. Made possible through the generous support of the Wells Fargo Foundation and the Truist Charitable Fund, VPLI is a program of the Center for Community Progress, the only national nonprofit dedicated to tackling vacant and abandoned properties.<br /><br />"The Vacant Property Leadership Institute will help our City better address neighborhoods with underused properties," Community Development Director Tim Teddy said. "Having these tools will help the City ensure we have viable neighborhoods throughout Columbia."<br /><br />Delegations from each of the following munic
ipalities will participate:<br /><br />Indiana: Gary, Kokomo, Muncie<br />Missouri: Columbia, Springfield, St. Louis City, St. Louis County<br />Ohio: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton<br /><br />The City of Columbia will be sending a delegation of five individuals: <br /><br />Robert Rinck - City Prosecutor<br />Nick Knoth - Ward 1 City Council Member and representative on the Columbia Community Land Trust <br />Leigh Kottwitz - Neighborhood Services Manager<br />Conrad Hake - Program Director, Love Columbia<br />Randy Cole - CEO, Columbia Housing Authority<br /><br />Cities were selected through a competitive application process. The selected cities include rural, suburban, and urban communities and range in population from about 60,000 to nearly 1 million. <br /><br />Affordable housing continues to be an issue of high priority for Columbia residents and our City Council. In a recent survey conducted by the Community Development department, preserving existing h
ousing and removing vacant and dilapidated housing were highly ranked by respondents.<br /><br />"Each municipality participating in this year’s training program was selected because they demonstrated strong leadership, are committed to racial equity, and represent unique opportunities for developing new solutions to shifting the systems responsible for vacant, abandoned, and other problem properties," said Courtney Knox, interim president and CEO of the Center for Community Progress. <br /><br />At the in-person training Nov. 7-10 in Austin, Texas, delegations will receive hands-on training from top experts on urban policy and equitable community revitalization. Immediately following VPLI, Community Progress will invite participating cities to apply for a Technical Assistance Award to make the lessons from VPLI actionable. A total of 1,000 hours of customized, expert guidance from our technical assistance team will be divided among the awarded communitie
s to help each community shape and sustain policy, practice, and process changes to address vacancy and abandonment. <br /><br />Participants of past Vacant Property Leadership Institutes have gone on to pass state and local laws that enable them to fight problem properties more effectively, implemented comprehensive revitalization solutions in some of their most vulnerable communities, broken down agency and sector silos, and developed lasting, fruitful relationships with peers in their cities and states, and across the country. <br /><br /><br /><br /><em>About the Center for Community Progress: The Center for Community Progress helps people to transform vacant spaces into vibrant places. Since 2010, their team of experts has provided urban, suburban, and rural communities battling systemic vacancy with the policies, tools, and resources needed to address the full cycle of property revitalization. As the only national nonprofit dedicated to tackling vacant p
roperties, Community Progress drives change by uncovering and disrupting the unjust, racist systems that perpetuate entrenched vacancy and property deterioration. Community Progress has delivered customized, expert guidance to leaders in over 300 communities and provided hundreds of hours of free educational resources as well as leadership programming to help policymakers, practitioners, and community members across the country return properties to productive use. To learn more and get help for your community, visit communityprogress.org.</em><br /><br /><em>About the Wells Fargo Foundation: VPLI is made possible by grant funding from the Wells Fargo Foundation. This grant is part of the Wells Fargo Foundation’s efforts to keep more than 200,000 people affected by COVID-19 housed with grants to nonprofit housing organizations across the U.S. Overall, the Wells Fargo Foundation has donated over $225 million to assist people and communities affected by COVID-19.</em><br /
><br /><em>About Truist: Truist Financial Corporation is a purpose-driven financial services company committed to inspiring and building better lives and communities. Truist has leading market share in many high-growth markets in the country. The company offers a wide range of services including retail, small business, and commercial banking; asset management; capital markets; commercial real estate; corporate and institutional banking; insurance; mortgage; payments; specialized lending; and wealth management. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truist is a top 10 U.S. commercial bank. Truist Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at Truist.com.</em><br /><br /><em>About Truist Charitable Fund: The Truist Charitable Fund is a donor-advised fund created by Truist and administered by The Winston-Salem Foundation.</em></div>
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