We are excited to welcome you to our 2025 Habitat Florida Affiliate Conference! This year’s theme is Building Tomorrow, Together. As a network, we are embracing change, overcoming challenges, and finding innovative ways to serve our communities. Across Florida, the affordable housing crisis has required our affiliates to continually adapt. Yet, in the face of these challenges, the spirit of Habitat remains strong. Affiliates across the state are scaling up, building more, and serving more families than ever before. Together, we are forging a future where safe, affordable housing is within reach for all.
We have lined up an incredible slate of speakers and sponsors to share their wealth of knowledge with our affiliate network! Thank you for your participation! If you are looking to book your rooms for the conference, you can do so here. The hotel will discount the taxes with a copy of your tax-exempt certificate. This conference, from April 28-30, 2025 at The Shores Resort and Spa is exclusively for Florida affiliate employees and volunteers.
Learn about affordable housing resources that can benefit your work. Michael Chaney with the Florida Housing Coalition will introduce the SHIP program. Learn about trends with SHIP purchase assistance, construction subsidy, and acquisition/rehab/resale. George Rusaw from Habitat in Citrus County will discuss the Predevelopment Loan Program (PLP) and other programs and supports used in recent developments. In addition, Lainie Lowery, President of RCL Consulting Services of Florida, will review the Home Ownership Program (HOP), a source of down payment assistance. Learn why HOP is popular with so many Habitat affiliates and how you can benefit from leveraging state and federal dollars.
Speakers: Michael Chaney, FHC, Technical Advosor George Rusaw, Habitat Citrus County, President/CEO Lainie Lowery, RCL Consulting and Management, President
Saturday March 15, 2025 10:30am - 12:00pm EDT
Bill France B1st Floor
Effective philanthropic engagement for Habitat for Humanity consists in understanding the needs and priorities of the local community, developing relationships with donors, and communicating the impact of their contributions. We will explain how we engage our community through the donor life cycle – and expand our reach to bring supporters closer to Habitat’s Mission.
Speaker: Elisha Baird, Habitat of Lee and Hendry Counties, VP of Strategic Partnerships Team
Saturday March 15, 2025 2:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
River Room11th Floor
