Education

APHAA’s Education Strategy offers opportunities to develop professional excellence in public housing through the following pillars of excellence:

Individual Excellence
Individual excellence is the pursuit of positive personal development by building capacities linked to a person’s expression of self. These are intrinsic qualities that could be described as “strength of character” as well as individual performance.

Concepts such as integrity, passion, ethics, accountability and innovation, as well as functional aspects such as writing, public speaking, and problem solving would fall under this pillar.

Interpersonal Excellence
Interpersonal excellence is exemplified in how a person interacts with those around them and how they work with others.

Examples of how an individual might display interpersonal excellence include networking, cooperation, negotiating, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, customer service, building relationships, and navigating social issues.

Operational Excellence
In relation to housing operations, operational excellence could be achieved by building skills in the following areas: financial management, risk assessment, property management, operational partnerships (internal and external stakeholders), law, governance, policy, research development, information technology, human resources, advocacy and government relations.

Leadership Excellence
Leadership excellence is not so much about management, as it is about developing the pillars of excellence in other individuals. It is exemplified by how an individual coaches, mentors, and builds capacities in others.

Leadership involves team building, motivational skills, workload management, prioritization, and decision making.

Organizational Excellence
Organizational excellence is exemplified in how well an individual leads an organization through change and growth.

Examples include leading a community through the process of addressing its housing needs, planning and visioning the future of an organization, thoughtful succession planning, cultural awareness and developing efficiencies through restructuring, process improvement and change management.

It is important to note that the Pillars of Excellence are not mutually exclusive, and that there are many overlaps between the skill sets and performance measures that have been articulated under each pillar.

Program Overview

Thanks to a grant from the Government of Alberta, APHAA offers education bursaries and other educational opportunities exclusively to its members.

The Nancy Laing Bursary Program is named after Honorary Member, Nancy Laing, who was one of the founding members of the association and was responsible for developing core competencies for Alberta’s Public Housing Professionals. Nancy remains a true mentor for many leaders in the housing sector.

The bursaries are awarded on a matching funds basis to a maximum of $2,500 per member per year, until the grant funds have been expended for that fiscal year.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicant
To be eligible to apply for bursary funds, the applicant must be a current Regular Member of APHAA (as defined in the APHAA bylaws) at the time of application, and maintain membership for the duration of their program/course in order to receive the bursary funds upon completion.

Courses
Any course or professional development offering from a recognized authority that aligns to APHAA’s Foundations of Public Housing, Pillars of Excellence, or builds capacity in alignment with the Province’s Affordable Housing Recommendations will be considered for funding. Applications must be received PRIOR to the start date of the course.

Course Fees and Associated Costs
The following costs associated with a course will be eligible for funding

Application Process
Members wishing to be considered for a bursary shall submit an application to APHAA by email at info@aphaa.org.

The application may be in any format you wish, but should provide at a minimum the information requested below:

Your application should provide sufficient information on the course to be taken and demonstrate how it relates to APHAA’s Education Strategy or capacity building priorities identified in the province’s Affordable Housing Review Recommendations. 

At a minimum the following information should be provided:

• Applicant’s name and contact information
• Course description including location
• Name and contact information of course provider
• Brief statement of how the course relates to one or more APHAA’s Foundations of Public Housing Modules, 5 Pillars of Excellence or an area within the Affordable Housing Review
• A list identifying and estimating all costs the applicant wishes to have considered for inclusion in determining the amount of the bursary
• An indication of who will be providing the required matching dollars

The APHAA Education Committee shall review all applications and make recommendations to the APHAA Executive on funding and the amount of the bursary to be paid to the applicant. Applicants will be advised in writing of the APHAA Executive’s decision. The decisions of the APHAA Executive are final.

Bursary Payments
Bursary funds shall be paid to the approved recipient ONLY after completion of the course. Recipients shall submit written proof of course completion, receipts for all approved expenditures relating to the course, and advise who the bursary payment should be made payable to (recipient or someone else). The contact information shown above in the Application Process section shall be used to submit the payment claim.

The amount of the bursary payment shall not exceed the amount approved by APHAA during the application process even if costs to the recipient exceeded the estimated amounts in the application. Should the actual course and associated expenses be less than the estimated amounts in the application, APHAA reserves the right to adjust the bursary payment amount accordingly.

Every effort will be made by APHAA to make payment within sixty (60) calendar days of receiving the recipient’s written proof of completion and receipts for costs, and the course summary noted below.

Mandatory Course Summary Submission
Recipients of this bursary funding are required to provide a summary of the course taken for the information of all APHAA Members. This information will help others determine if the course may be one they wish to take.

The recipient must post the summary of the educational opportunity, outcomes, and their personal experience in the Member Discussion Forum. The summary should describe how this course created capacity and developed skills aligned to APHAA’s Education priorities.

In an effort to build capacity within the sector and orient new and emerging leaders to core job functions of a public or non-profit housing CAO/CEO, APHAA has developed a series of self-led online learning modules focusing on:

Orientation to Public Housing in Alberta
Create a “First 60 Days” Road Map for new CAOs/CEOs, and learn to navigate the complex world of public housing and non-profit housing leadership. This orientation provides an overview of the other modules within the Foundations of Public Housing program.

Asset & Operations Management
This module takes a deeper dive into housing asset and operations management with a focus on:

• Capital Planning, Maintenance and Procurement
• Real Estate Management
• Contract Management
• Human Resources
• Financial Management

Governance
This module focuses on Strategic Leadership and Governance best practices, where new and emerging leaders will learn more about:

• Developing a political acumen
• Policy development
• Government processes at the municipal, provincial and federal levels
• Legal and regulatory obligations of public housing and non-profit housing organizations
• Identifying the roles and responsibilities between governing bodies and administration, and how to navigate boundaries between governance and operational work
• Risk management
• Stakeholder relations and partnerships

People Leadership
This module provides skill development and awareness of client services best practices, particularly in the areas of tenancy management, change management, team building principles, community networking/partnerships, understanding social issues, and soft skills development.

The Foundations of Public Housing program has been developed in consultation with members, stakeholders and the Ministry of Alberta Seniors & Housing. It is only available to APHAA members.

APHAA curates a host of educational resources for members, in alignment with its Education Strategy and strategic priorities.

We also share opportunities that support continuous skill development and leadership excellence, with a list of upcoming industry events, post-secondary programs and courses, designations/accreditations, and information on public/non-profit housing trends/leading approaches.