Pre-Conference for Network Members

Room: Grand 3

You’ve written more grant proposals than you can count. You’ve badgered more corporate partners and foundations than you care to admit. Now what do you do? Through short presentations followed by longer deep-dive conversations, this session will give you three innovative strategies you can put to use to increase and diversify funding for your organization. Hear from Grant Ready Kentucky on how state government can provide access to matching dollars for grants; discover how Lift Orlando accelerated fundraising through a comprehensive community campaign; and learn from Alloy Fundraising how strategically adding the right consultant to your team can supercharge your fundraising capacity.

Room: Grand 6

Learn from practitioners from within and beyond the Purpose Built network about community designed approaches to healthy food access—and the economic pathways they create. Presenters will offer brief overviews of their locally-built models: a food co-op in South Atlanta; a commercial kitchen incubation in Grand Rapids; and an urban farm developed in the heart of Houston that supplies affordable, fresh and culturally significant produce to a local neighborhood grocery store while also generating job opportunities and community centered gathering space for residents. After that, participants will move into small group conversations for honest, practical discussion about implementation, partnerships, and lessons learned.

You’ll learn from peers who are doing the work, explore what’s transferable to your context, and leave with concrete, right sized next steps. A simple reflection tool will help you anchor insights to your neighborhood’s realities and identify actions to take when you return home.

Room: Grand 7

This workshop will showcase three innovative partnerships with local schools designed to improve student outcomes across the cradle-to-college journey. Cherry Hill Strong will share how they established a dedicated, school-based role to ensure strong strategic implementation at the campus level. Lift Orlando will discuss how they collaborated with their district to launch a comprehensive school redesign initiative aimed at driving long-term student success. A team from Drew Charter School will present a recent case study around the approach and impact of their college and career office.

Participants will have time to speak in small groups conversations for honest, practical discussion about implementation, partnerships, and lessons learned.

Room: Grand 1

The Purpose Built model has many interlocking components – mixed-income housing, education, community wellness, and economic vitality – with Community Quarterback Organizations and residents holding it all together. For a neighborhood transformation effort to be truly successful, resident vision and voice must be central. Community Quarterback Organizations play a significant role in making sure that happens.

Drawing on the experiences of Purpose Built Network Members, this workshop explores practical strategies for building resident power and collective influence in the community. Participants will learn from a panel of Network Member peers how they have made the process of revitalization more accessible, used feedback effectively to build trust, and cultivated residents’ leadership potential.

Through discussion and real-world examples, the session will highlight approaches that build trust, develop local leadership, and support residents in shaping the decisions that affect their neighborhoods. Participants will also have an opportunity to share their own wins in building resident power and garner feedback and support from others about the challenges they may be facing. Attendees will leave with tools and ideas for fostering resident-led initiatives in their own communities.

Offsite Workshop

How does a housing strategy move beyond paper and show up on the block? Join LIFT JAX in OutEast Jacksonville for an on-the-ground look at how a mixed-income housing strategy is driving visible neighborhood change. In a community defined by scattered sites and legacy homeownership, development doesn’t happen in one large footprint; it happens intentionally, lot by lot, around key neighborhood nodes.

Participants will tour homes under construction and recently completed to see how LIFT JAX aligns new single-family development and comprehensive home repair investments with existing neighborhood assets. By focusing on strategic infill near schools, commercial corridors, and community anchors, LIFT JAX strengthens long-time residents’ ability to stay, creates pathways to first-time homeownership, and stabilizes blocks through thoughtful rehabilitation and design.

This session offers a candid look at what it takes to implement a mixed-income strategy in a legacy neighborhood, where context, culture, and proximity matter as much as the homes themselves.

Note: This workshop is off-site. You will travel to and from the conference hotel to OutEast via shuttle. Limited to 20 participants.

Room: Grand 2

The Data Systems Cohort is for Network Member Leaders and Staff who have done a Data System Design project in 2025 or will do a Data System Design project in 2026. Invitation only; reach out to Karen Cramer for more information.