NLCU: Act Fast: A Fast Track Housing Course for Immediate Impact

Course Description:

This course aims to provide participants with the knowledge, strategies, and tools required to address the challenges of housing development effectively and efficiently. Over a span of six weeks, the program will cover essential areas that impact housing policy, market analysis, permitting processes, technology integration, and strategic partnerships. 

• Week 1: Introduction to Federal, State, and Local Landscape– covers the current trends and developments in housing.  

• Week 2: Housing Needs Assessment/Market Analysis– covers methodologies and data sources for conducting housing needs assessments and market analysis, including rental and home ownership conditions, demand analysis, and recommendations and tools to increase housing.    

• Week 3: Fast Track Permitting- covers permitting process improvement to accelerate housing development  

• Week 4: Internal Policies and Processes- covers internal organization policies and processes that impact housing development  

• Week 5: The Role of Technology- covers the use of technology solutions (low-code, no-code, tech partnerships, AI, etc.) to enhance housing projects and housing development   

• Week 6: Additional Strategies to Accelerate Housing- revisit the key trends in housing and provide additional strategies including Baker Tilly, finance, and the use of scorecards to measure progress  

Course Facilitators:

Marta Purdy, Director, Baker Tilly (Facilitator) 

Marta joined Baker Tilly in 2021 and has more than 15 years of experience in urban redevelopment, housing and execution of public-private partnership (P3) projects. Marta is a strategic thinker who leverages creative insights to achieve economic and social impacts. She leads interdisciplinary teams to manage complex redevelopment strategies, analyze housing needs, develop effective financing strategies and deliver client results. Before joining Baker Tilly, Marta worked at a boutique urban planning and economic development consulting firm for 12 years, working throughout the Midwest. 

Jolena Presti, AICP, Managing Director, Baker Tilly

Jolena has more than 25 years of experience advancing innovative city-building solutions for public and private sector clients. Jolena has led Baker Tilly’s Development and Community Advisory team’s practice in economic, housing and redevelopment strategies, targeting real estate and public policy solutions to advance economic growth and community revitalization for the past 5 years. Jolena joined Baker Tilly as a Managing Director after 15 years in leadership with a Midwest economic development and urban planning firm, where she was Principal of the Milwaukee office, leading community redevelopment and public-private partnership efforts targeted in Midwest communities. Jolena earned a Master of Public Administration and Urban Planning from the University of Washington. Jolena is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and the American Planning Association (APA). 

Don Bernards, Principal, Baker Tilly

Don is well-versed in structuring affordable housing transactions, including tax issues. Don is adept at creating a checklist of major issues for each project that can put a deal at risk. Immersed in the affordable housing practice, Don has a wide range of experience with projects, owners and investors and has built a wide network of contacts within the field. His enthusiasm and passion for the industry are infectious. “It’s not just about numbers,” he says, “it’s about the end product and growing capacity.” Don has worked on affordable housing transactions in 26 states. 

Andrea Ferreria, Senior Consultant, Baker Tilly

Andrea works collaboratively with clients on a wide range of strategic initiatives, including affordable housing, economic, community development and real estate development. She brings five years of experience in real estate development and urban planning consulting and previously worked on engagements nationally across a range of asset classes.  

Kristian Vaughn, Senior Manager, Baker Tilly

Kristian is an experienced economic development strategist, urban science researcher and project manager with 10 years of experience in community economics, real estate finance, land use management and public policy in the governmental, private consulting and not-for-profit sectors. 

His specialties include financial structuring of impactful community-based real estate, economic impact modeling of investments, engaging stakeholders in facilitated discussions and focus group sessions and supporting municipal staff and neighborhood organizations in the development and implementation of economic strategies to catalyze reinvestment in commercial corridors and residential neighborhoods. 

Al Zelinka, FAICP, CMSM, Director, Baker Tilly  

Al brings a wealth of experience in both local government leadership and consulting to his work with Baker Tilly’s public-sector advisory team. He served most recently as city manager for the California cities of Huntington Beach and Riverside. Key accomplishments in those roles include creating a nationally recognized and award-winning one-stop shop (and associated zoning code updates and streamlined process improvements) garnering 96% customer satisfaction, overhauling outdated administrative policies and procedures, improving financial health, developing public infrastructure, advancing strategic planning and succession planning, advancing policies on equity and homelessness and promoting community engagement. Al also served as community development director for the cities of Riverside and Fullerton, creating more efficient and effective processes and improving operations.

Jacquelyn McCray, Ph.D., AICP, Director, Baker Tilly  

Jacquelyn has been a key staff member on myriad projects analyzing development review processes, creating strategic plans, facilitating community engagement, and performance measurement and organizational review. She is particularly adept at development review and process improvement projects and has successfully worked in 15 cities, identifying recommendations for streamlining operations and reducing cycle times. She is a skilled civic engagement, focus group and group process facilitator and has served various civic and professional groups in this capacity. Jacquelyn has more than 25 years of experience in local government management. Nine of those years were with the City of Cincinnati, where she was a budget analyst, project manager and land-use planner. She is a member of the American Planning Association. 

Khala Stanfield, Director, Baker Tilly

Khala has more than 25 years of public sector experience with a decade of experience leading strategy, performance measurement and process improvement projects. She achieves large-scale organizational growth and transformation by facilitating strategic planning processes, conducting qualitative analysis, and industry-related research for identifying strategy portfolios and developing fact-based recommendations for senior management to enable critical decisions. In her most recent role, Khala served as the Director of Organizational Performance with the City of Glendale, AZ. She championed the citywide strategic plan and balanced scorecard across 19 departments. She also oversaw the data analytics program, internal audit team, Lean process improvements and employee and community engagement surveys and facilitation. Additional experience includes roles with the State of Arizona as Deputy Finance Manager and Executive Director for the State Employees Charitable Campaign. She is certified in Balanced Scorecard and has Google Project Management and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certifications. 

Caitlin Humrickhouse, Principal, Baker Tilly (SME) 

Caitlin Humrickhouse is a Principal with Baker Tilly’s public sector advisory practice. She is a strategic workforce planner with a deep understanding of succession planning and strategic human capital management. Caitlin’s other areas of expertise include benchmarking, organizational redesign and system needs assessment and selection. Prior to joining the firm, she worked at the University of Illinois at Chicago, performing program and market analyses for an online education unit.  

Kelsey Engbrecht, Senior Manager, Baker Tilly (SME) 

Kelsey is a senior product and practice leader with a proven track record in delivering software products and developing mature quality, requirements and design thinking practices. She brings experience in agile methodologies, process improvement, mentorship and user centered design principles. She has experience introducing and managing software products in the healthcare, fintech and manufacturing industries.   

Quinn Gromley, Director, Baker Tilly (SME) 

As a Director of Real Estate Development Advisory Services at Baker Tilly, Quinn collaborates with internal and external teams to provide strategic guidance and sophisticated financial modeling for real estate projects. By offering customized advisory services and forward-thinking approaches, Quinn delivers scalable solutions that drive operational efficiency, enhance development processes, and maximize the value of real estate investments and dispositions. Quinn has a strong background in real estate development, compliance analysis, financial modeling, and predevelopment planning, design review, scheduling, and budget.   

For questions, contact university@nlc.org.