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.
This session will combine the best of the two HFHI sessions Habitat Strong and New Construction Standards.
Habitat Strong: Beyond Building Codes (U.S. Construction) Description: Overview of successful affiliate strategies in energy-efficient, hazard-resistant, climate-resilient construction practices that exceed code minimums. This session reviews national/regional code-plus program guidelines, affiliate-based case studies, technical specifications, and possible financial incentives.
The construction standards for all new homes in the U.S. were updated in 2021 and go into effect January of 2024. This session offers a high-level overview of what the Standards are, what projects they apply to, how to find Minimum Requirements and supporting resources, and what compliance looks like. Includes a very brief overview of the four Standards topics (Mission-Aligned Design, Accessibility, Durability, and Sustainability) and introduces tools and resources for design and implementation.
Speaker: Amy Anselm Panel: Lucie Ghioto, VP of Construction Orlando/Osceola Habitat Ron Johnson, VP of Construction Hillsborough Habitat
Friday March 14, 2025 3:00pm - 4:30pm EDT
River Room11th 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
This session will discuss how to develop and customize your Homeowner Education Program to give homebuyers tools to help make them informed, successful homeowners. We will review affiliates’ different topics and approaches and exchange ideas about maximizing the partnership process as a learning opportunity.
Presenters: Darlene Wolfson, Habitat of Greater Volusia, Director of Homeowner Services Lissette Gomez, Habitat of Greater Miamie, Family Services Director
Sunday March 16, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am EDT
River Room11th Floor
