NMCOG Calls for ‘At Home in Greater Lowell’ Steering Committee Members

Tewksbury residents can apply as community advisors

NMCOG is seeking up to fifteen community members to serve on the At Home in Greater Lowell Steering Committee. At Home in Greater Lowell will be a comprehensive regional housing plan for the nine NMCOG member communities, using data and projections, housing market analysis, and stakeholder input to develop realistic affordable and market-rate housing production targets to be used in local plans and policies.

This plan will provide more than data and recommendations. It will include a storytelling and public education campaign about housing issues—from challenges to successes. It will also include a toolbox of educational materials that communities and agencies can use to make needed changes to meet our regional housing goals.

The Steering Committee will serve alongside NMCOG staff as community-focused advisors to us and our two consultants. We will meet up to six times via Zoom throughout the planning process, approximately every two months at times determined by a poll of members starting January and ending in November 2024. As a Steering Committee member, your responsibilities will include:

• Evaluate proposed content and public engagement; recommend improvements to make content and engagement more comprehensive, equitable, inclusive, and responsive to community needs;
• Share the word about opportunities for input to your networks through word-of-mouth, social media, or other appropriate communication channels;
• Review materials such as draft chapters, maps, lists of goals and objectives, and recommendations; provide feedback based on your expertise, knowledge of your community, and your lived experience.

NMCOG is seeking Steering Committee members with one or more of the following:

• Experience working for or with organizations that provide access to, manage, or develop affordable housing;
• Expertise in in real estate development, finance, or other housing-allied fields;
• Service in an elected or appointed role on a municipal board or committee which impacts housing development (e.g., Select Board or City Council, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, Affordable Housing Trust, Affordable Housing Committee);
• Current or prior resident in affordable housing, participation in affordable housing programs, or have experienced homelessness, especially in Greater Lowell; and/or
• Represent an underrepresented viewpoint in age, race, ethnicity, immigrant status, neighborhood, gender identity, sexual orientation, geography, or other lived experience.

If interested, please email a brief statement to Chris Hayes, Housing and Economic Development Program Manager, at chayes@nmcog.org. Please send statements of interest by Friday, January 12, 2024. NMCOG will select members based on ensuring a diverse mix of the above qualities.

Learn more.