Event Recap - 2025 Annual Celebration & Awards Night
- Seacoast WHC
- Dec 22, 2025
- 6 min read
On Thursday, December 18, 2025, the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast held this year’s Annual Celebration and Awards Night at The Brook Casino in Seabrook. Welcoming members from across the WHC community, the evening reflected on the year’s successes in housing policy, recognized the leadership of key housing champions, and brought together stakeholders across sectors to keep the momentum going.
The Workforce Housing Coalition has hosted an annual celebration at the end of the year for over a decade, honoring community members, policy makers, advocates, and professionals throughout the event’s tenure. As we come off a year that saw one of the most expansive housing policy reforms passed at the state level and record-breaking community support across the region, it was especially gratifying to gather with such an enthusiastic group.
Opening Remarks: Gathering in Gratitude
After filtering in, greeting familiar faces, and a bit of snacking, attendees were welcomed by Executive Director Emmy Ham to begin the speaking portion of the evening. She began by thanking WHC corporate, non-profit, and individual members and the Board of Directors, with special recognition of Treasurer Carrie DiGeorge, who has recently retired from her post at Community Action Partnership of Strafford County. We are so thankful for Carrie’s expertise and leadership on the WHC Board, and she will be missed! We also recognize past co-chairs Michael Castagna and Lindsay Sonnett, and Secretary Michael Behrendt
who are all terming off at the end of the year.
Ham also provided a summary of the work of WHC this year, highlighting the continuation of programming like the Where We Live Series and the Spring Policy Session, the success of the 10th annual Greater Seacoast Housing Summit, and boosted engagement in communities across the region. She acknowledged organizational change, with the departure of Executive Director Nick Taylor and Housing Navigator Taylor Cray, and the arrival of a new ED, Ham, in January and Communications & Engagement Coordinator Maeve Nolan in July. Most importantly, Ham recognized the wins for housing policy reform, innovation, and coalition building that made this year one for the books.
Recognizing the Recipients
On the same vein, Ham transitioned to honoring the four award recipients for 2025: The Business Leadership Award was granted to Lighthouse Credit Union; the Municipal Leadership Award went to the Town of Durham’s Housing Task Force; Project of the Year was earned by Elm Grove Companies for The Rapids on Cocheco in Rochester; and, the Community Impact Award honored Progress Portsmouth.
The Business Leadership Award: Lighthouse Credit Union
The Business Leadership Award recognizes a business that has shown exceptional leadership in supporting the Workforce Housing Coalition and advancing our mission of promoting a range of housing opportunities for the people who keep our region functioning. This year it was presented to Lighthouse Credit Union.
As a committed supporter of housing initiatives, Lighthouse is working to find creative and innovative approaches to financing alongside investments in the work of coalitions like WHC and other local nonprofits. Lighthouse has been a consistent supporter of the Workforce Housing Coalition in 2025, sponsoring the 10th Annual Greater Seacoast Housing Summit and the Annual Celebration & Awards Night in their role as WHC’s Champion Member.
This all feeds into Lighthouse’s goal of helping put 50,000 people into homes by 2030. We appreciate Lighthouse Credit Union’s pledge to address the housing crisis by action and example.
The Municipal Leadership Award: Town of Durham's Housing Task Force
The Municipal Leadership Award recognizes a municipality that has demonstrated sustained, results-driven leadership in addressing housing challenges at the local level. This year, we recognized the Town of Durham’s Housing Task Force, a group of community members that came together to address zoning and guide local policy change.
Over the past several years, the Task Force led a comprehensive effort to understand Durham’s housing needs through data analysis, public engagement, and collaboration with town staff and regional partners. That work culminated in one of Durham’s most meaningful housing policy outcomes to date: the recommendation and adoption of an Attainable Housing Ordinance.
The ordinance was intentionally designed to create space for missing middle housing and establish a framework for developing a broad range of housing options to match the diversity of New Hampshire’s workforce and population at large. The Task Force also created several recommendations to zoning such as raising height allowances downtown and allowing for more density in designated areas.
Though the Task Force sunsetted in October of this year, we celebrate the work of its dedicated members and encourage the community to continue taking steps to advance housing opportunities at the local level.
The Project of the Year Award: The Rapids on Cocheco by Elm Grove Companies
The Project of the Year Award is presented to a development that goes above and beyond—bringing quality housing to life, responding to local workforce needs, and setting an example for what housing innovation can look like in our region. This year’s recipient was Elm Grove Companies for their development, The Rapids on Cocheco in Rochester, NH.
The Rapids is a 52-unit workforce housing community recently completed in Rochester that demonstrates what leadership looks like when the private sector steps up to help solve a public challenge. This project provides homes for families earning between 20% and 80% of Area Median Income, leveraging the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit’s income-averaging model and public-private financing tools.
What’s more, The Rapids integrates quality design, sustainability, and everyday livability. This is Elm Grove’s ninth affordable housing venture in New Hampshire, contributing to over 430 affordable units completed or underway across the state. While accepting the award, the Elm Grove team expressed that they strive to construct affordable and workforce units just like any market-rate project, an approach that makes a key difference in the creation of home.
We are glad to have Elm Grove Companies as a committed Partner Member of WHC and look forward to seeing what their next workforce housing projects hold.
The Community Impact Award: Progress Portsmouth
The final award of the night, the Community Impact Award, recognizes significant impact in advancing pro-housing policies across the region. This year’s recipient, Progress Portsmouth, has been a key driver of advocacy efforts and community organizing in the city, helping to move meaningful housing policy forward.
Through persistent, thoughtful engagement, they have played an important role in advancing several pro-housing reforms, such as the city’s co-living ordinance passed in May of 2025, which has already resulted in the approval of dozens of new housing units.
A critical part of this impact is the exceptional leadership of founder Gerry Duffy, who has generously volunteered his time to community organizing and local-level advocacy. Through consistent presence, coalition-building, and follow-through, Gerry has helped keep housing at the forefront of conversations among elected officials, city staff, and housing leaders. He ensures that momentum doesn’t fade, and that housing remains a priority, demonstrating how committed civic leadership can drive lasting change.
We so appreciate our local partnership with Gerry Duffy and the Progress Portsmouth team and look forward to furthering our collective advocacy efforts.
Closing Remarks: Meeting the Moment and Maintaining Momentum
In her closing remarks, Emmy Ham emphasized a simple message: progress on housing doesn’t happen in isolation; it happens because people choose to show up, to partner, and to lead. Each award recipient has approached the affordable housing crisis from a different angle, with a different set of constraints and stakeholders to manage.
Yet, they joined together under a common message and commitment to action that has created tangible results, with much more success to come.
There is more work to be done, so while we celebrate the successes of 2025, it is crucial to think ahead and envision a future where everyone who works in our region can afford to call it home.
None of this work would be possible without strong, sustained support. The Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast offers sincere thanks to our sustaining funders— New Hampshire Housing, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and our charitable gaming partner and event host, The Brook Casino—as well as event sponsors, WHC Champion Member Lighthouse Credit Union and WHC Partner Member Service Credit Union.
WHC also extends our gratitude to our engaged group of the evening’s attendees, many of which are members of the Workforce Housing Coalition, for your continued support for our work and mission as we advance diverse housing opportunities across the Greater Seacoast.
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