HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) has announced $1.5 million in new funding to create and relaunch a specialized training academy dedicated to preparing civil rights professionals to combat housing discrimination. Named for the Nation’s first African-American woman to hold a cabinet-level position, the Patricia R. Harris National Fair Housing Training Academy (NFHTA) will train civil rights professionals nationwide and provide a clearinghouse of fair housing education and outreach material.

The Fair Housing Act makes housing discrimination illegal on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. This includes housing discrimination in renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance, or engaging in other housing-related activities.

About NFHTA
Through this premier training academy, the chosen applicant and FHEO will provide training related to housing discrimination, civil rights history, and current housing discrimination trends, and will teach methodologies to assess housing discrimination at local, state, and national levels. NFHTA will prepare civil rights professionals to understand the investigative process and to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of complaint processing. NFHTA will also serve as a think tank and conduit through which current and future generations of civil rights professionals share and explore best practices and raise industry standards. This includes the creation of a consistently evolving clearinghouse of fair housing education and outreach materials.

FHEO and the chosen applicant will select appropriate modalities to teach civil rights professionals. It is anticipated that HUD and the applicant will offer at least six high-quality trainings per year (each training lasting 24-32 hours and training approximately 20-30 persons). Trainings may include a blend of pre- and post-training reading materials, in-person trainings, webinars, videos, and/or other effective methods to create an environment that achieves identified outcomes.

Applicants must identify at least one individual (or a cadre of individuals) with at least two years of demonstrated experience conducting investigations, litigation, and/or education and outreach under the federal Fair Housing Act and/or state or local laws that HUD has determined to be substantially equivalent to the Fair Housing Act. Necessary experience includes delivery of training courses, ongoing review of courses to ensure accuracy and relevance, and development of new courses and new course delivery methods. Applicants must also have experience marketing training services to potential users. Identified individuals may include staff, contractors, or consultants.

How to Apply
HUD’s Community Compass Technical Assistance and Capacity Building program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 was published to Grants.gov on Monday, December 17, 2018, under funding opportunity number FR-6200-N-06. Due to the government shutdown that began on December 22, 2018, HUD has extended the application due date to 11:59:59 PM EDT on March 14, 2019. The NOFA text and all other application requirements remain the same.

In addition to reading the full NOFA announcement on Grants.gov, potential applicants are encouraged to view the information about the NOFA on the Community Compass NOFA page. The NOFA page will be periodically updated to include Frequently Asked Questions, links to pre-recorded webinars, webinar presentation slides, and other relevant information.