Mackenzie Sehlke, Boulder County.   The Boulder County Housing Authority is seeking community input to help name the new neighborhood of affordable workforce housing to be constructed near downtown Nederland. The Name it, Ned! contest is officially underway, and we want to hear the community’s ideas to name this small neighborhood of homes that will serve Nederland’s working families, single moms and dads, elders, teachers and other school staff, firefighters, restaurant and coffee shop workers, and so many others who struggle with the high cost of housing in the area.

The future site of this neighborhood is the currently-vacant land located on Third Street across from the town’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) parking lot and is near many area services, making it ideal for the placement of 26 high-quality, permanently-below-market-rate rental homes. Construction on this new community could begin as early as summer 2019, so it’s time for the neighborhood to have a name that reflects Nederland. We encourage everyone to be creative and consider Nederland’s significant historical figures, events or other unique connections to the area that could be incorporated into the name of this neighborhood.

Names can be submitted online at www.NederlandHousing.org. Deadline to submit your idea(s) is 5 p.m., August 8, 2018. After that, we’ll pick the top three submissions. We’ll post them at www.NederlandHousing.org and on Facebook’s Ned Heads, Nederland Area News and Ned Mamas pages, and everyone will have a chance to vote on them by 5 p.m. August 20. We expect to announce an overall winner on Wednesday, August 22 in the same locations as above. Prizes will be gift card grab bags from local businesses such as New Moon Bakery, the Carousel of Happiness, Wild Bear Nature Center, Nature’s Own, Backcountry Pizza, Salto’s Coffee and more. Make a permanent contribution to much-needed affordable workforce housing in your community!