July 30, 2018
Cathy Stripling, a Blacksburg native and Virginia Tech interior design graduate, recently joined Community Housing Partners (CHP) to serve as operations and maintenance analyst. This position will work in collaboration with other departments across CHP to create a tool that will help CHP’s maintenance team work more efficiently and in a more environmentally friendly way.
CHP recently deployed smartphones for the property maintenance teams. Stripling would like maintenance staff to be able to use these phones to access more information about the property and have access to learning resources and warranty information. They could also see what products are in each unit and where they can find them.
“Down the road, we’d like to be able to collect more data about how our properties are functioning and whether or not they are meeting our corporate initiatives,” said Stripling.
As a member of the Green Team and Safety team, Stripling will also be working on managing the green cleaning program.
Andy Hall, Chief Operating Officer, said that this position came out of a Green Team initiative. “They saw an opportunity to apply more green practices to our operational and maintenance efforts,” he said.
The Green Team pursued and was awarded a grant which provided funding for the new position.
“Ultimately, the goal is to help our maintenance folks work more effectively and make it easier for them to do their jobs,” said Hall. “This initiative is going to be a big part of how we operate in the future.”
Stripling’s position is also a direct response to CHP’s newly adopted strategic plan, which prioritizes adopting operational practices that reduce the nonprofit’s environmental impact. CHP is excited to welcome Stripling and see this new position’s contributions to CHP's environmental goals.