Professional & Volunteer Experience
Since 1975, Ms. Strum has worked in the housing & community development industry as both a housing professional and volunteer at the national level where she previously chaired the national Section 8 Committee of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO). She previously worked in the public sector, having served two terms as Executive Director of the Indiana State Housing Board; an appointment she held under two governors. Dee Dee founded her company in 1981; MDStrum Housing Services, Inc.-a professional services firm specializing in the planning for neighborhood revitalization, commercial and real estate development, strategic planning, public-private partnerships, homeownership, entrepreneurial program initiatives for public housing authorities and community development corporations , all of which has resulted in a body of corporate work in the areas of non-profit development and management, strategic positioning, and strengthening volunteer boards . Now nearing 30 years of experience as a business owner, she has amassed substantial successes as an affordable housing expert, technical advisor, analyst, writer, and program/project manager for government contracts. Her company has been selected by local, state, and federal governments to provide technical assistance to public agencies and community based organizations in the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. She and her team have developed and implemented programs of education and personal wealth-building, such as 1st Time Homebuyers training. Ms. Strum has given public testimony before subcommittees of the U.S. Congress, and provided interviews to the Boston Globe and the ABC Good Morning America show on problems and solutions to providing access to affordable housing for rental and homeownership by families of low- and moderate-incomes. She has also been published in industry trade journals. Ms. Strum is a frequent speaker at national and regional conferences of America's housing professionals.
Dee Strum has received numerous professional awards and recognition for excellence in business management, as well as housing and community development. Her firm was identified by the Boston-based Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)--chaired by the notable Dr. Michael Porter of Harvard University-- as one of America's fastest growing Top 100 Inner-City Corporations in 2003, and again in 2008, which recognition was subsequently published in Inc. Magazine-America's small business magazine. Ms. Strum was selected as Indiana's Minority Small Business Owner in 2003 by the district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Her company is a graduate of SBA'a 8a small business development program and is a certified HUBZone business. Her firm has also been awarded multiple GSA-FABS schedules to provide a range of services to federal agencies. During the period of 2005-2009, MDStrum Housing Services served as U.S. HUD's national disaster recovery contractor providing immediate and longer-term response to the post-disaster housing crisis following Hurricanes' Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike in the gulf coast regions of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. In 2008, Ms. Strum launched a second business activity building a workforce of energy auditors and shell crews to perform residential energy retrofits.
Since 1981 Dee's volunteer activity and volunteer public speaking has largely focused on the empowerment and leadership capacity building of African American women and girls. She is a founding member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women Indianapolis Chapter, Inc., where, for four years, she was the driving force behind the chapter's high school mentoring program, The Coalition Academy for Girls, instituting "financial literacy" as the cornerstone of the Academy's education program. She served a four year term as a national board member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW). During this tenure she chaired the national leadership development committee successfully planning and implementing two national leadership retreats. In October 2009, Ms. Strum was elected NCBW national president beginning a two year term as primary spokesperson for the 60+ chapters and thousands of members nationwide on the issues that most directly impact black women and their constituencies.
Other forms of civic engagement includes her service as a board member for Citizens Health Center, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in Indianapolis, where she was an active advocate for programs and initiatives to eliminate minority health disparities. Ms. Strum is a member of the National Association of Business Women (NAWBO-Indianapolis), the Indianapolis Branch of the NAACP, and a founding member of the Holcomb Historic Preservation Foundation, a local organization with the mission to preserve inner-city green space and historic river estates. Over the past 28 years she has worked as a volunteer to raise monies to support local performing arts theatres and special African-American art exhibits for the Indianapolis Children's Museum and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
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CEO & President
1981-current
MDStrum Housing Services, Inc.
Indianapolis, IN * New Orleans, LA * Biloxi-Gulfport, MS
National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc.
National President
2009-2011
Chapter President
1998 - 2001
Indianapolis Chapter, Inc.
National Board Member
2001-2005
Chairperson
National Leadership Development Committee
2003-2005
New York City
Board Member
2000-2005
Citizens Health Center, Inc.
Indianapolis, IN
Member, WNBA Fever Advisory Board
2002-2005
Former Professional Board Memberships
Housing Insider Newsletter
Housing Television Network (HTVN)
Amoco Foundation Community Lending Board
Education
Bachelor of Arts/Masters of Arts
Community Development
University of Maryland at College Park
professional affiliations/memberships
Habitat for Humanity
National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Coalition for Business Women
US Womens Business Chamber
National HUBZone Association
National Black Chamber of Commerce
National
Speaking Engagements
National Assn. of Housing & Redevelopment Officials-NAHRO
Public Housing Authorities Directors Assn.-PHADA
National Assn. of Home Builders-NAHB
National Assn. of HUD-Management Agents- NAHMA
National Assn. of Resident Management Corporations-NARMC
National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People-NAACP
National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise-NCN