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Community Associations Institute (CAI) |
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Community Associations Institute
Plexus Consulting Group, LLC |
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Vital Stats: Founded in 1973, the Community Associations Institute (CAI) is a national, non-profit organization representing more than 17,000 members and 58 national and international chapters. CAI was created to educate and represent America's 205,000 residential condominium, cooperative and homeowner associations and related professionals and service providers. CAI serves homeowners and condominium associations and is uniquely structured to provide both producers and consumers with equal rights and recognition within its system of governance. The Challenge | The Solution | The Process | Unforseen Benefits | Measurements & Results | Lessons Learned
The Communities of Tomorrow Summit was spurred by a two-fold challenge:
Existing communities are changing rapidly, and community associations
(governed by more than a million individuals) have been portrayed
in the media as using heavy-handed tactics to trample homeowner rights.
Given the lack of information about homeowners' thoughts on these
issues, CAI faced a considerable challenge to reposition the community
association industry as a community builder and champion. CAI undertook a strategic planning initiative encompassing all of its programs. This initiative sought to build a consensus among many diverse parties, including members and allied organizations that shared the mutual vision of building sustainable Communities of Tomorrow. While this facilitated planning process involved reaching a consensus
on operating principles to help sustain and grow communities in their
chosen directions, it emphasized the importance of building community
spirit in addition to business operations. It culminated in the Communities
of Tomorrow Summit, held from September 8-9, 1999 in Arlington, Virginia.
The Summit's resounding success has led to the development of another
Summit in 2001. CAI followed a sequential, methodical approach in developing the Communities of Tomorrow Summit, which involved the following steps:
Data Collection However, it also concluded that levels of homeowner satisfaction were inversely proportional to the strictness with which homeowner associations are managed. The next steps involved gathering a knowledgeable audience to discuss the results and then taking the lead to create a forum in which to address them. Development of Strategic and Funding Partnerships Previously well known to CAI, these included the American Institute of Architects' Center for Livable Communities, the Fannie Mae Foundation (sponsor), the American Planning Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the National Association of Home Builders, and the Urban Land Institute (co-sponsors). Working in partnership with these organizations, CAI led the first-ever National Dialogue on Excellence in Community Design, Governance and Management. Program Development, Logistics and Implementation The Summit involved strenuous logistical challenges and 30% of senior staff time, including CAI President Barbara Byrd Keenan; Erin Fuller, Executive Director of CAI's Research Foundation; and Arisa Downs, Special Projects Coordinator for the CAI Research Foundation. The Summit required significant program support work, media and public relations efforts, art design, administration staff time and volunteer mobilization. CAI also engaged facilitators and survey experts to support the effort. Bringing together diverse professional cultures involved considerable negotiation. Given tight time-lines and intensive logistical pressures, it was a challenge to represent all participants fairly and to address their diverse positioning and public relations needs. Given these different agendas, coordination was difficult at times. For example, tough decisions had to be made about whether it would
be viable to videotape given program sessions. In one situation, CAI
management had to decide that it was not feasible given time, resource
and program constraints to capture a live recording of an interactive
Summit session. Issues that arose among the various participating
groups over public relations issues and logistical matters were resolved
in a constructive, decisive manner so as to foster continued partnership
even under extreme pressure.
But the community building initiative didn't end there. CAI's core purpose, as expressed in its mission statement, became to "put communities first". To put communities first meant to foster vibrant, responsive, competent community associations that promote harmony, community and responsible leadership. This is the philosophy that is now driven throughout CAI's membership and wide range of programs. Essentially, CAI seeks to "give people a voice in decisions that will shape their lives." But prior to the Summit's realization, CAI had not been known as a leader in the sustainable community growth movement. By "sheparding" the Summit development, CAI took upon itself considerable political and organizational risk and was able to position itself as a leader in the movement. Constant and effective communication of CAI's core purpose and mission in its all of its programs and services became an on-going challenge. CAI responded to this challenge by developing numerous education and information-based tools including publications, training for homeowners and managers, and chapter education and credentialing programs. Specific initiatives included:
The feedback generated from the Communities of Tomorrow Summit participants was overwhelmingly positive and included requests for another Summit II in 2001. These results were ironic since many CAI members had originally said, "it couldn't be done." Through Communities of Tomorrow, CAI was able to:
AI's diversity of membership is both a key strength and weakness. As a result, the success of coalition and consensus-building efforts are essential to the organization's effectiveness. Against formidable odds, CAI has been able to "bring common sense" to potentially antagonistic dialogues between property owners and managers, enabling members to build a united front and advocating successfully on their mutual behalf to build thriving, sustainable communities. The only "downside" involves mining all of the opportunities
generated by the initiative. CAI is only "scratching the surface".
While fund-raising is critical to any successful endeavor of this
nature, it proved difficult to line up the necessary funding without
the partnerships and programs, and vice versa. It took a massive,
simultaneous effort to bring all of these elements together. And one
key lesson learned is that there is "never enough time!"
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