A Day in the Life of a Child

A Housing Affordability Public Service Announcement Series

Have you ever thought about who needs affordable housing? This public service announcement (PSA) campaign raises awareness around the relationship between housing affordability and the average take home pay of some of our most valued members of society: the professionals who take care of our children.

Have you seen this PSA?

A Day in the Life… A Nurse

Sponsored by District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development, HAND has launched the first PSA in the “Day in the Life of a Child” series. Promoted on Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) metro buses and rail platforms for the month of June, this initial concept focuses on a nurse (LPN) who earns the average salary of $45,900/year and highlights the disparity between the nurse’s income and what’s really needed to be able to afford a two-bedroom apartment in the D.C. area ($58,760/year). According to HUD’s affordability formula, a nurse would need to earn thousands of dollars more to be able to adequately afford the home. Including rent, what else does our nurse have to pay for? Food, utilities, health/dental care, child care, transportation, insurance, clothing, savings, etc.

Housing that is affordable is essential to the Washington region’s economic growth, a thriving business community and high quality of life for our workforce and most importantly our children.

Data for the PSA series is supplied by
National Housing Conference Paycheck to Paycheck
online tool.

Housing Affordability PSA Partners

Department of Housing and Community Development

The mission of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is to create and preserve opportunities for affordable housing and economic development and to revitalize underserved communities in the District of Columbia.

Learn More
www.dhcd.dc.gov

HAND is proud to have them as our government sponsor for the WMATA PSA series.

National Housing Conference

The National Housing Conference (NHC) is dedicated to helping ensure safe, decent and affordable housing for all in America. As a division of NHC, the Center for Housing Policy specializes in solutions through research, working to broaden understanding of America’s affordable housing challenges and examine the impact of policies and programs developed to address these needs.

Paycheck to Paycheck is the National Housing Conference’s online tool that compares the median wages of workers in 80 different occupations to median housing costs in 210 metro areas. Policy makers and affordable housing advocates can use the Paycheck to Paycheck tool to find out which workers face challenges in accessing affordable homes to rent or buy and use the data to demonstrate the need for more affordable housing in their community.

Learn More
www.nhc.org/paycheck

HAND thanks NHC for the use of its dedicated research reflected in its 2014 Paycheck to Paycheck interactive tool.

Get Involved

Sponsorship?
If you are a government agency interested in sponsoring one of the upcoming PSAs, let us know! Email Heather Raspberry, hraspberry@handhousing.org, and we’ll be in touch.

At the core of HAND’s mission is building the capacity of its members to support the development of thriving communities across the region. Representing the ecosystem of partners working together to bring equitable communities to fruition, HAND works to disrupt the systems perpetuating inequity. With this work in mind, we recognized a need to support the next generation of leaders and in 2015 we established GenerationHAND. The GenerationHAND initiative aims to provide needed tools and guidance to our emerging leaders through a wide variety of activities including but not limited to mentorship, community service and professional development programming. This year HAND is excited to expand the initiative’s offerings with the launch of the GenerationHAND Scholarship program!

HAND is proud to offer financial assistance to outstanding students residing in HAND member properties who are pursuing higher education at an accredited four-year college or university. The scholarship is for $10,000 ($2,500 annually for four years), awarded to college-bound high school seniors who demonstrate leadership, drive and a commitment to using their talents to serve our communities. Students of color, first-generation and students who demonstrate financial need are highly encouraged to apply. Awards are renewable for up to three years. Renewal is contingent upon the recipient continuing full-time enrollment at an accredited four-year college or university, and maintaining a good standing with the school.

 

Eligibility Requirements

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or legal permanent student who resides in a HAND member community
  • Must currently be a high school senior attending high school in the United States 
  • Plan to enroll in a full-time undergraduate course of study toward a bachelor’s degree at an accredited four-year college or university in the United States for the entire upcoming academic year
  • 3.0 Minimum GPA (cumulative)

 

How To Apply

  1. HAND requests that the resident services team in our members’ communities choose one student to apply per community. 
  2. Once the HAND member organization has selected a student to nominate, please complete the brief nomination form (see below) with the following details: 
    • The student’s name
    • The HAND member organization name
    • The name of the community where the student resides
    • The name, phone number and email of the point of contact in the resident services program
  3. Following the submission of the nomination form, students can complete the official application on the HAND website (see below). A PDF of the application questions can be found here.
  4. All applications must be submitted by 5pm on Friday, April 14th.

Please direct any questions on the application to info@handhousing.org.

 

NOMINATE A STUDENT TODAY 


Not a HAND member? Need to renew your membership?
You can join or renew here.

SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION TODAY 


Application requirements: A completed application form including a short essay and two letters of recommendation.

 

SCHOLARSHIP SPONSOR