Community leaders representing participating teams gathered online with Carolina Across 100 to kick off the Our State, Our Homes program!

Carolina Across 100 and the Development Finance Initiative welcomed leaders from 14 community teams to the UNC School of Government for their first in-person forum.

As part of Carolina Engagement Week, “How to Use Data to Assess Local Housing Needs” featured Frank Muraca from the UNC Development Finance Initiative (DFI). Muraca walked attendees through publicly available datasets like Census data and HUD’s CHAS data, highlighting their strengths and limitations in assessing housing needs. He emphasized that data should be a starting point for community discussions, enriched by local context and lived experiences.

Building on Forum 1, “What We Mean When We Talk About Affordable Housing” featured Sarah Odio from the UNC Development Finance Initiative (DFI). This pre-recorded webinar helps establish a shared language by unpacking key terms related to housing demand, the housing supply continuum, and the framework for discussing solutions. CX100 teams are encouraged to revisit this recording and the accompanying glossary as ongoing resources for local conversations and planning.

“Collaborating for Impact: Lessons from Housing Coalitions” featured Vaughn Upshaw (UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health), Stephanie Watkins-Cruz (North Carolina Housing Coalition), and Liz Carbone (Cape Fear Housing Coalition). This webinar highlighted the possibilities and challenges of working across sectors and organizations to address housing needs. Speakers emphasized the importance of building trust, sustaining momentum, and engaging a wide range of stakeholders.

At their second in-person forum in Chapel Hill, teams explored the power of storytelling to shift housing narratives, began setting goals for their collaborations, and connected with housing organizations employing promising strategies across the state. The forum also introduced the first iteration of a Shared Measurement System to track progress across the cohort.

Coordinating to Address Homelessness: Insights from State and Local Practice” featured Dr. Latonya Agard from the NC Coalition to End Homelessness and Shereá Burnett from Partners Ending Homelessness in Guilford County. In this webinar, speakers shared strategies for coordination across organizations and sectors, highlighted statewide tools, and offered actionable advice for strengthening local responses to homelessness.

CX100 teams were invited to join this session on Manufactured Housing and the Power of Resident Ownership, the first webinar in the Drivers of Change series offered through Growing Practical Solutions for North Carolina (GPS NC). Angela Romeo from ROC USA and Marjory Gilsrud from the ROC Association shared their perspectives on the growing challenges facing manufactured housing communities and the potential of the resident ownership model to preserve affordability, prevent displacement, and build long-term community resilience.

Discover practical strategies for sustainable community land trusts from panelists from Raleigh Area Land Trust, Durham Community Land Trustees, Watauga Community Housing Trust, Burlington Associates in Community Development.

The Our State, Our Homes community collaborative teams came together in Chapel Hill for their third forum to focus on local government tools and strategies, models of cross-sector partnerships for housing, and team action planning to move their work forward. All teams will continue to build on their momentum over the next few months as they implement their action plans and consider longer-term sustainability leading up to the fourth forum in December.

This webinar introduces the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency (NCHFA) which has financed over 321,000 homes and apartments totaling $34.4 billion by leveraging public investments with private funds. Learn more about producing affordable housing in partnership with local governments, nonprofit housing producers and for-profit developers.