The Council of State Community Development Agencies (COSCDA) announced the recipients of its annual awards at the 2026 Annual Training Conference in Memphis, Tennessee. The awards are designed to provide our members with national recognition for excellent projects.
This award recognizes an individual COSCDA member who has made the most significant contribution to the work and mission of COSCDA during the last five years.
The 2026 COSCDA James Reeves Member Contribution Award winner is Alison George, the immediate past president of COSCDA’s board who retired from the State of Colorado Department of Local Affairs last fall after more than 15 years of dedicated service. During her tenure with the State of Colorado, she was deeply investment in supporting COSCDA. Her testimony before Congress regarding cross-cutting priorities and the HOME program were highly effective and influential.
At the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), Alison was known as a leader with a deep sense of purpose, humility, and unwavering commitment to the people of Colorado. Under her leadership, the Division of Housing grew to nearly 200 employees (from 38 employees in 2010). Alison’s work had a significant impact on the state’s housing landscape and built a foundation for long-term impact.
This award recognizes innovative activities, policies or programs that have been implemented at the state level, which have demonstrated success in solving community needs.
A new recreation area the size of Central Park is located at the Middle Fork of the Forked Deer River between Jackson and Three Way, Tennessee that combines opportunities for outdoor recreation, flood prevention, and environmental education. This project was designed to restore more than 800 acres of floodplain to reduce flooding for the Madison County area.
The Middle Fork Bottoms project is a model project for community resilience and development. Flooding and poor infrastructure created flood risk and watershed disfunction impacted landowners but was out-of-sight and out-of-mind for the community. The Middle Fork Bottoms project turned a $6M grant into over $36M of community investment and resulted in a new state park that will serve generations of visitors.
This award recognizes state programs that have demonstrated, during a sustained period, positive results in improving the lives of lower income persons through community & economic development programs.
The Local Priorities Program was created to allow for projects that did not fit any established funding categories, allowing for creative solutions to local problems. The program has resulted in smaller communities applying for and receiving funds when they had not in the past. The majority of the grants have constructed or improved parks supporting the need for accessible public spaces in communities throughout the state.
The program enjoys widespread support from community members, local elected officials, town staff and consultant organizations. South Carolina funds the program out of its yearly allocation and requires a minimum of ten percent match. Since their 2023 program year, they have funded 22 projects totaling $5.8 million state CDBG funding and an overall match of 43%. The projects have benefited approximately 67,000 people.
This award recognizes state programs that have demonstrated, during a sustained period, positive results in improving the lives of lower income persons through housing assistance programs.
Tremont Flats represents creative problem solving at its best. Rather than allowing a vacant nineteenth-century mill to remain a symbol of decline, the project team recognized its potential to become a source of housing, pride, and renewed opportunity for Meriden’s North End. The former Aeolian Company piano factory (operating from 1887 to 1930) was transformed into 82 mixed-income apartments while preserving the brick walls, timber beams, factory windows, and other features that connect the building to the city’s industrial and musical history.
The project’s financing structure is supported by a comprehensive mix of federal, state, and local funding sources as well as tax credit equity and energy-related incentives, resulting in a total development budget of $56,279,805. Contributions included $1.5 million in HOME Investment Partnerships Program funding.
One resident remarked at the ribbon cutting, “What I appreciate most is that this experience has given us room to grow. It’s allowed me to focus, keep moving forward, and build the kind of future I’ve always envisioned for my family.”
This award recognizes state programs that have demonstrated, during a sustained period, positive results in improving the lives of lower income persons through disaster recovery programs.
The Western Kentucky tornado outbreak in December 2021 destroyed or damaged 4,238 homeownership units and 5,425 rental units. The confirmed financial loss from the damage to those units exceeds $45 million.
Through a coordination of resources, the Commonwealth committed over $218 million in affordable housing resources in these Western Kentucky communities. This investment represents approximately $229,000 per unit from DLG and KHC in Tax-Exempt Bond Financing, 4% Tax Credits, HOME, AHTF, NHTF, RHTF, and CDBG-DR. For the Dept. of Local Government and its CDBG-DR funding, this investment represented approximately $63,000 per unit. This project required participation and commitment from affordable housing developers and the units of local government that needed these affordable housing solutions in light of the disasters that had impacted their communities.
This award recognizes state programs that have demonstrated, during a sustained period, positive results in improving the lives of lower income persons through disaster recovery programs.
HCD awarded Self-Help Enterprises HOME-ARP and NHTF program funding for construction and permanent financing to build Maple Meadows I, a new construction project located in Madera County (central California). The building is a new construction project with 34 one-bedroom, 24 two-bedroom, and 22 three-bedroom units serving households with incomes ranging from 0% – 60% AMI. The market area has seven affordable multifamily projects which are 99.7% occupied with long wait lists of 5 years or more. The newly constructed project is an asset to the County of Madera, and helps meet the demand for affordable housing.
HCD provided $17.4 million in federal financing, HOME-ARP and NHTF to Maple Meadows I, and leveraged $26 million in private, public and tax credit equity funds. The cost per door is $542,500, which is considerably cost-effective, given the trend in California’s cost per door is between $600,000 to $1.2 million.