CDA Wins National Advocacy Award Campaign to Restore Down Payment Assistance in City Budget Wins Honors

MILWAUKEE – The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) honored the Community Development Alliance (CDA) for its advocacy efforts today during the national organization’s Housing Policy Forum in Washington, D.C. CDA received the group’s Local Organizing Award for its successful campaign to restore funding for down payment assistance (DPA) in the city’s budget.

During a five-week period beginning in late September, CDA’s Resident Advisory Council on Housing (RACH) rallied resident and public support to convince the Milwaukee Common Council to restore funding for DPA in the city’s budget. The Common Council then also established a dedicated capital account within the Department of City Development for DPA, ensuring the program continues with greater transparency, flexibility, and long-term impact.

“This honor belongs to the hundreds of residents who testified at hearings, wrote letters and called their elected representatives to let them know how important DPA is,” said Johanna Jimenez, CDA’s policy and advocacy director, while accepting the award during a luncheon at the Washington Hilton Hotel. “Restoring this funding will help 150 low income families achieve the American Dream of homeownership and strengthen some of our city’s most challenged neighborhoods.” 

Alice Pugh, a member of the RACH and a resident of Nash Park in Milwaukee, joined Jimenez in accepting the award.

Following the awards luncheon, Jimenez and Pugh were panelists with Benjie Stark  and Eida Altman of  the Denver Metro Tenants Union (DMTU), who received the NLIHC’s Tenant Led Organizing Award. The four shared organizing strategies, successes and challenges.  

“These awards recognize NLIHC members’ outstanding organizing efforts. Their work stood out for its impact on low-income communities, and we are honored to recognize your organization,” said Brooke Schipporeit, MSW, NLIHC’s Senior Director, Field Strategy & Innovation.

“We are incredibly grateful to be recognized by our peers and accept this award on behalf of the RACH members and Allies who made their voices heard,” said Teig Whaley-Smith, CDA’s chief alliance executive. “We are also grateful to the Common Council members who made difficult choices to find a way to restore DPA funding, and for the Mayor and City staff who are working with us to make sure every Milwaukeean who wants to can own their own home.”

The annual Organizing Awards recognize outstanding achievements in statewide, regional, citywide, neighborhood, or resident organizing that further NLIHC’s mission of ensuring that people with the lowest incomes have quality homes that are accessible and affordable in communities of their choice. Special consideration is given to nominations that incorporate tenant- or resident-centered organizing and leadership and that prioritize racial equity.  

About the Community Development Alliance (CDA):

At the CDA, we believe that homeownership is a catalyst for dismantling systemic racism and building strong communities. That’s why our work as accomplices with the community is centered on people and policy. By working collaboratively, we invest in neighborhoods, providing access to quality homes for Milwaukee families and nurturing capacity for Black and Brown families to build generational wealth. Learn more at https://www.housingplan.org.

About the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC):

The NLIHC is dedicated to achieving racially and socially equitable public policy that ensures people with the lowest incomes have quality homes that are accessible and affordable in communities of their choice. NLIHC’s goals are to preserve existing federally assisted homes and housing resources, expand the supply of low-income housing, and establish housing stability as the primary purpose of federal low-income housing policy. Learn more about NLIHC at nlihc.org