2021 VAD Academy

Enroll in the VAD Academy to get the latest insights and tools to help address vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties in your community.

Overview
The VAD Academy short for Vacant, Abandoned, and Deteriorated Properties Training Academy is a virtual bootcamp for public, private, nonprofit, and community leaders whose work and communities are impacted by challenges related to VAD properties. Thanks to the support from Truist, the 2021 edition of the VAD Academy will be offered free of charge to attendees, a $250 savings.

Background
Vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties plague communities of all sizes across the United States. Whether spurred by historic, inequitable policies, industry loss, or natural disasters, these properties create compound challenges for residents and local governments. When working to comprehensively address and transform VAD properties, communities can find it difficult to know where to start. Center for Community Progress VAD Academy was created to help public, private, nonprofit, and resident leaders craft equitable, effective approaches to addressing these property challenges. From breaking down complex systems, to sharing smart strategies for resident engagement and fostering compliance, the VAD Academy aims to equip leaders to help return properties to purposeful use.

Who Should Attend?
The VAD Academy is designed for government, nonprofit, and private sector professionals and community partners, who aim to equitably address problem properties. If you work primarily in one issue area (such as code enforcement) and want to better understand how your day-to-day intersects with other areas of work, VAD is a great opportunity for you. Participants include urban planners, city attorneys, elected officials, CDC staff, land bank leaders, academics, code enforcement officials, neighborhood association leaders, developers, lending institutions, and more. Whether you work with urban, suburban, or rural communities, the VAD Academy curriculum will help you combat widespread abandonment and neighborhood decline.