We are thrilled to be celebrating our 20th anniversary in business this year. But what we’re most excited about is celebrating what you – our clients and partners – have done over the past 20 years and what you’re doing to make the next 20 years even better.
Earlier this year, we started a #20YearsEquals campaign to highlight success stories across Indian Country. We continued this campaign at our annual conference last month in New Orleans with a special luncheon and awards ceremony at our 20th Anniversary Superhero Awards. We recognized outstanding professionals who bring housing and economic development to American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities.
The awards ceremony was wonderful. We laughed (mostly over our Grammys-like award music), we shed a few happy tears, and we were in awe learning about the dedication that each of our award winners gives to the communities they serve.
We hope it’s the start of an annual tradition to recognize the incredible work you are all doing in Indian Country. (Nominations for our 2016 awards will open soon. Be sure to submit a nomination for the person you think deserves it most!)
I’d like to congratulate our awardees on all of their hard work. Your work is an inspiration to us all and motivation to continue working! Our Superheroes are:
Visionary – Scott Moses, executive director of Warm Springs Housing Authority
Advocate Housing – Angela Christy, an attorney with Faegre Baker Daniels
Advocate Economic Development – Darryl Jacobs, attorney with Ginsberg Jacobs
Pillar – Marvin Burnette, assistant projects manager at White Mountain Apache Housing Authority
Haven – Desirae Wallace, project coordinator at the Warm Springs Housing Authority
Next 20 – Housing – Jeff Ackley Jr., Sokaogon Chippewa Community tribal administrator and Housing Authority executive director
Next 20 – Economic Development – Dakota Cole, undersecretary of treasury for the Chickasaw Nation
Milestone – Economic Development – Tamar DeFries, principal with Pacific Growth Associates
Milestone – Housing – Jane Barrett and Linda McGraw Adams of the Red Lake Reservation Housing Authority
Initiative – Pascua Yaqui Tribe and Pascua Yaqui Tribe Housing Department
We’ll spotlight our first winner today, who is an executive director, and then we’ll highlight the remaining winners in the coming weeks.
(Desirae Wallace accepted the award on Scott Moses’ behalf.)
Scott Moses, executive director of Warm Springs Housing Authority – Visionary Superhero
Scott is an elected official and someone working on the front lines of affordable housing — perfectly suited to see the big picture for building a community for all tribal members with a solid foundation in affordable housing.
A member of the Warm Springs Tribal Council, he is a Seekseekqua district representative serving a three-year term through 2016 and the executive director of the Warm Springs Housing Authority. His vision for a better future for his tribal members has led to many reforms at the tribal council level and brought financing to build 35 architecturally innovative and energy efficient homes to his reservation in the state of Oregon, where no tribal tax credit projects have been undertaken in the last 20 years.
Read a story about Warm Springs’ project grand opening here: http://travois.com/warm-springs-housing-authority-celebrates-grand-opening/.
To read more about our Superhero Awards, visit our conference webpage.