ICYMI: HOME Announces $1.1 Million In Grants For Premio HOME Winners, Hosts HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman At 2024 UnidosUS Annual Conference

On Wednesday, July 17, 2024, the HOME (Home Ownership Means Equity) initiative hosted its second HOME Plenary at the 2024 UnidosUS Annual Conference: Our Time is Now in Las Vegas, Nevada.  

HOME kicked off the Plenary formally announcing the finalists, runners up, and honorary mentions of its $1.1 million in grants through its Premio HOME. The 18 local housing organizations spanning 14 states and territories across the United States were selected for their innovative solutions to address America’s housing supply crisis, including through construction and design, ownership models, and climate resiliency.  

The winners of the 2024 Premio HOME competition join the initiative as HOME’s second Affiliate group, following the first Affiliate group in 2023, which focused on boosting Latino mortgage readiness. This year’s Premio HOME grantees include nine finalists and nine runners up, with four additional organizations receiving honorary mentions. In addition to funding to participate in the UnidosUS 2024 Annual Conference, finalists will receive grants ranging from $75,000-$100,000, and runners up will receive grants ranging from $25,000-$50,000.  

Finalists include:  

Runners up include: 

• Chicanos Por La Causa (Phoenix, AZ) 
• Housing and Education Alliance (Tampa, FL) 
• Asociacion Puertorriquenos En Marcha, Inc (Guayama, PR) 
• Visionary Home Builders of California, Inc. (Central Valley, CA) 
• Montebello Housing Development Corporation (Tri-Counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, and Los Angeles, CA) 
• Southwest Economic Solutions Corporation (Detroit, MI) 
• Homewise, Inc. (Santa Fe, NM) 
• Lucky Shoals Community Association, Inc. (Gwinnett County, GA) 
• Neighborhood Partnership Housing Services, Inc. (Inland Valley, CA) 

Honorary mentions include:  

Four of the Premio HOME finalists participated in the HOME Plenary to present their organizations’ strategies and solutions and participate in a roundtable discussion and networking events, including: Dr. Ernesto Fonseca, Chief Executive Officer, Hacienda Community Development Corporation; Monica Mejia, President and CEO, East Los Angeles Community Corporation; Lizeth Servin, Chief Operations Officer, Comite de Bien Estar; and Sherry Taylor, Executive Director, Durham Community Land Trustees 

The Plenary also included a keynote address from Adrianne Todman, Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and a fireside with Acting Secretary Todman and Annie Donovan, President and CEO of Raza Development Fund.  

“Innovation happens at the local level. That’s where it happens, so we are here to support and resource … I want to just thank UnidosUS for courageous work, decades-long work, making sure that by empowering Latinos you’re really empowering the rest of the United States.” – Adrianne Todman, Acting Secretary of HUD 

“Over the next 20 years, Latinos will be 70% of the net new homeowners in this country. But we know that aspirations and forecasts are not guarantees.” – Laura Arce, Senior Vice President of Economic Initiatives, UnidosUS 

In the Headlines 

• The Premio HOME awardee announcement was first covered in an exclusive feature story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which included an interview with UnidosUS Senior Vice President for Economic Initiatives Laura Arce. You can read the article here.  
• HOME and the Premio HOME competition also made news in the Latin Times and Philanthropy News Digest. You can read the stories here and here, respectively.  

More information on the UnidosUS HOME initiative, including the previous market launches, can be found on our website here. You can follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 

You can watch the full Plenary at the YouTube link here.