DCA January/February Newsletter New Year, New U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary The job of HUD Secretary is about how to use government to make urban communities stronger and better. As HUD Secretary, Dr. Carson's strength will not be his intelligence, or his accomplishments as a Yale-educated pediatric brain surgeon. It will be his unique ability, as someone who has risen from poverty to personal and professional success, to relate. ..... read more here New tools for Rural Economic Development In February, DCA helped publish The Georgia Rural Economic Development Handbook to help those new to economic development and those in civic roles who would like to better understand how Georgia goes about this team effort. This handbook was developed by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, in partnership with DCA, and with much help from rural economic development practitioners in the State. ..... read more here 2017 Homeless Count: Communities work to identify and to address needs Every two years, Continua of Care (CoC) throughout the country are tasked by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with counting the sheltered and unsheltered homeless population on a single night in January in order to get a snapshot of homelessness in the nation , states, and local communities. At DCA, we work with local CoCs and community-based partners on " Every Georgian Counts" to update data for Georgia's 159 counties . ..... read more here Application changes for Appalachian Regional Commission program DCA is streamlining the application and funding process for Georgia's Appalachian Regional Commission program in an effort to better meet the needs of communities. The new process will align more closely with other funding sources. ..... read more here Governor Deal appoints two new members to DCA Board At DCA 's quarterly Board of Directors meeting on February 8, 2017, we welcomed two new members. Joining the DCA Board to represent Georgia's First Congressional District is Chad Barrow and our new Member at Large is Audrey King . ..... read more here Save the Date! CDBG, ARC and OneGeorgia Application Deadlines, Keep Georgia Beautiful Day Mark your calendars! Deadlines are approaching to get applications in for DCA 's CDBG, ARC and OneGeorgia programs. And don't forget, February 20th is Keep Georgia Beautiful Day! ..... read more here DCA BUILDIN COMMUNITIE Camila Knowles Commissioner Carmen Chubb Deputy Commissioner, Housing John Ellis Deputy Commissioner Finance & Operations Christopher Nunn Deputy Commissioner Community Development & Finance Seth Coker Director of Government and External Relation MaryBrown Sandys Director of Marketing & Comunications Georgia Department of Community Affairs (404) 679-4840 www.dca.ga.gov Communications@dca.ga.gov