NMHC’s Third Annual Good Neighbor Award Will Honor Charity Work

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–Nominations for the National Multi Housing Council’s third annual Good Neighbor Award for Outstanding Community Service, which honors the community service and philanthropic activities of apartment firms, are now being accepted. The winner will receive a $10,000 donation for a charity of their choice.   “We are struck by what apartment owners do; they give back in many different ways and yet they unfairly have a bad reputation in the community,” Doug Bibby, president of NMHC, tells MHN. “We wanted to showcase their work as a best practice so that others in the industry can replicate it.” Only members of NMHC are asked to apply. Last year, NMHC named two winners, Post Properties and John M. Corcoran and Co. Through the Post HOPE Foundation, Post’s employees–and Post’s residents–donate time, money and resources to a wide variety of causes. John M. Corcoran and Company’s employees give their time, money, donations and skills to a women’s and children’s center that offers housing and other services to at-risk women and their children. Corcoran annually contributes in excess of $100,000, over 500 volunteer hours, more than 100 articles of professional clothing and 150-200 holiday presents for the center’s children.“Last year, it was difficult to choose one of them as a winner, but this year, we hope we can find one winner because we would rather give all that money to one charity than split it between two,” says Bibby.NMHC looks at the following set of criteria while choosing the winner: overall impact of the program; the program’s ability to be replicated by other apartment companies; level of involvement of the firm’s employees; duration of involvement and degree of innovation.Five judges will look at the applicants and choose the winner in January next year at the NMHC Annual Meeting to be held in Palm Springs, Calif.