White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities

National Resource Network

Listening Session

DATE: Monday, July 9, 2012

TIME: 1:00PM – 3:00PM, EST

LOCATION: HUD HQ, Live webcast at HUD.gov

HUD CONTACT: Brittany Gibbs, 202-402-2826

Please join HUD as we advance President Obama’s vision for the White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2).  On Monday July 9, the Department is hosting a DC-based listening session to gather input on how the new National Resource Network program – a critical component of the SC2 initiative – should be structured.

HUD plans to make approximately $5 million available for an SC2 National Resource Network to help strengthen local communities and spur economic growth.  The SC2 Network will provide economically distressed communities with short-term technical assistance in basic operational areas as well as programmatic issues, dictated by local need.  In addition, the SC2 Network will aggregate public and private resources to serve a wide range of governments and connect them through a peer-to-peer learning network.

We need to hear from you. HUD plans to hold a grant competition to award these funds to an organization or consortium to manage and administer the SC2 Network.  To provide a transparent and inclusive process in the development of the SC2 Network, HUD is seeking your thoughts and suggestions on its proposed competition and program structure.

Please RSVP for the listening session to SC2Network@hud.gov with your name, organization, phone number, email address, and subject title “Listening Session RSVP”. Please tell us if you will be joining us in-person or via the webcast.

The event will be webcasted and can be viewed at HUD.gov under the Press Room tab – questions may be submitted in advance and during the event to SC2Network@hud.gov.

If you cannot join in person or via webcast, HUD has published an Advance Notice of Funding with a proposed framework of the grant program for public comment. The Advance Notice can be viewed at the Federal Register and comments will be accepted at Regulations.gov through July 16, 2012.

Please direct any event questions to the contact person listed above.  We look forward to your participation.

Background on SC2

Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) represents a new collaboration between federal and local governments to foster partnerships with local communities and provide comprehensive technical assistance to use and access federal resources more effectively and efficiently.  The SC2 Initiative is comprised of four components: 1) Community Solutions Teams, groups of interagency federal employees that work in 6 pilot locations to assist in implementing priority projects identified by mayors and local leaders; 2) The SC2 Fellowship Program, which will provide the SC2 pilot cities with a class of highly skilled fellows poised to provide a next generation of local leadership; 3)The Economic Visioning Challenge, a challenge competition run by the Economic Development Administration helping cities leverage innovative strategies to spur economic growth and job creation; and 4)The SC2 National Resource Network, which will extend SC2’s reach beyond the pilot cities by offering short-term, place-based engagements with expert technical assistance providers to eligible local governments in distressed communities.