Speakers of the House Toastmasters Club recently received a prestigious
national award. This club, sponsored by the Fort Worth Housing Authority,
received a Merit Award from the National Association of Housing and
Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), a professional membership organization of housing
and community development agencies.
Club President Shannon Kimble says their award “was for
programs to innovate professional development as well as public
relations. These are highly sought after awards in our field. We are very
proud to have received it.”
Some excerpts from their successful award application:
“During one of our
meetings our executive staff noticed that some of our highly trained,
tenured employees had difficulties when getting up in front of a large group of
people and giving a presentation. Toastmasters International was brought up
because one of the executives was familiar with the club and thought it
might be something that could help employees with self confidence and speaking
skills. . . . By October 2010 we were officially a club.”
“All this structure and
organization during the meeting provides excellent training for the employee
with their duties at the Fort Worth Housing Authority as well as
working as a team. Everyone . . . has benefited in some way or
another. Whether it was improving their vocabulary or speaking in front of a
large group. It has all been beneficial to our Housing Authority since
communication is an enormous factor in providing a service to our clients.”
“This is a new fun way to get
employees involved in self growth, learning a new way to become a leader and
utilizing those skills in their role at the housing authority. Better
communication is vital to our job as well as guidance. Listening to our clients
to better serve them is a key component to the productivity of our mission at
the housing authority.”
And that’s not all. President
Kimble says “More good news! We have new members coming on board as well as the
return of a couple that left. We plan to make big things happen this year.”
We can believe it.
Jodie Sanders
News Editor
