NAHRO Honors Ivory Mathews with Advocacy Award
(Washington, D.C.) – The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) has honored Ivory Mathews, executive director of Home Forward, with this year’s Advocacy Award, which recognizes outstanding and innovative achievements in the arena of legislative advocacy. The award was presented March 28 during NAHRO’s online Washington Conference.
Mathews was recently named the executive director of Home Forward, based in Portland, Ore. Mathews has more than 20 years of experience leading affordable housing agencies and housing authorities, including serving as the chief executive officer of nonprofit Columbia Housing in South Carolina.
Mathews is the Vice Chair of NAHRO’s Legislative Network Advisory Committee and prior to her joining she became an inaugural Congressional Contact when NAHRO launched the initiative in spring 2021. Using her strong advocacy leadership, Mathews made significant contributions to NAHRO’s August Advocacy Month in 2021 with her then-agency Columbia Housing sending the highest number of advocacy letters of any agency. She also testified in November 2019 at a Senate hearing on “Examining Bipartisan Bills to Promote Affordable Housing Access and Safety.”
“NAHRO and its members are grateful to Ivory for her tireless and inspiring advocacy, NAHRO Interim CEO Mike Gerber said. “With historic legislation before the Congress, including the Build Back Better Act, we need to ensure that lawmakers not only hear the voices of our agencies and our residents, but also understand our communities’ needs. It’s because of the work of committed advocates like Ivory that change starts to happen.”
About NAHRO
NAHRO, which was established in 1933, is a membership organization of 20,000 housing and community development providers and professionals throughout the United States. NAHRO members create and manage affordable housing for low- and middle-income families, and support vibrant communities that enhance the quality of life for all. They administer more than 3 million homes for more than 8 million people.