Arden Shank brings 30 years of diverse nonprofit housing and community development experience to his role as board chair of CRASF. Mr. Shank, as President/CEO of Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida, has a deep knowledge of specialized community-based housing issues including corporation start-ups, restructuring, fundraising and capital project implementation. Mr. Shank has capitalized on his skills and expertise to expand NHSSF from a small agency of three staff members to a sophisticated operation with a professional team, an engaged 12-member board, and an expanded territory that includes Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. NHSSF has five lines of business including homebuyer preparation, mortgage lending, housing development, real estate brokerage, and neighborhood revitalization.
As a chartered member of the NeighborWorks network, NHSSF is certified to meet a high standard of fiscal integrity and service performance to assist local residents in developing leadership, improving their neighborhoods, and securing decent, affordable housing. Through his association with NeighborWorks, Mr. Shank graduated from Achieving Excellence, an intensive performance-driven organizational investment program for seasoned senior executives in community development jointly sponsored by NeighborWorks America and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
He worked with a diverse base of partners to form a consortium of community based organizations that could pool their talents and expertise to help stabilize neighborhoods reeling from the foreclosure crisis. This resulted in NHSSF and six other partners forming a consortium that was awarded $89,375,000 by HUD through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program Round 2. The Consortium, with NHSSF as the lead agency, completed its grant expenditures on time and producing 1500 housing units.
Mr. Shank’s commitment to making communities stronger has resulted in his involvement with numerous organizations including a board member of National Community Reinvestment Coalition, the founder and board chair of Community Reinvestment Alliance of South Florida, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ Community Advisory Council, and a board of the South Florida Community Development Coalition.