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CONTRACTOR UNIVERSITY PRIVACY POLICIES

The following defines the privacy policy that is being practiced at Housing First Minnesota/Contractor University (hereinafter referred to as “HFMN”). It also includes policies specific to CE21, the owner/operator of the learning management system used by Contractor University. At HFMN, we are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our clients and employees to every extent possible.

Information We Collect

HFMN collects information at its websites in ways such as 'directly' (example – when you provide information to sign up for a newsletter, whitepaper, web resource or register to comment on a forum); and ‘indirectly’ (example – through our website’s technology or cookies). HFMN may collect the following primary information (but not limited to):

  • Name
  • Company
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • License number

The above information is collected through filling in forms on our website. This includes registering to use the website, subscribing to services, newsletters, and alerts, registering for a Contractor University course or any other related information. It is completely up to you to decide before providing any personal information.

Our website collects information about your computer, including (where available) your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration, to filter traffic, to look up user domains and to report on statistics as required.

Details of your visits to our website and the related tracking such as the pages and sections you view and resources you access or request for download, including but not limited to, traffic data, location data, blogs and other communication data. Please refer to the Cookies section below for more information on the same.

We do not generally seek to collect or process sensitive personal data also known as special categories (revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation) through this site or otherwise. We occasionally collect personal information, but only via “opt-in” with your permission, in exchange for information and items of value such as newsletter, etc.. In the limited cases where we may seek to collect such data, we will do this in accordance with local data privacy law requirements.Any data about your activities that HFMN collects will  not personally or directly identify you when you visit our websites, the website of entities for which we serve advertisements (our “Advertisers”), or the websites and online services where we display advertisements (“Publishers”). This information may include the content you view, the date and time that you view this content, the products you purchase, or your location information associated with your IP address. We use the information we collect to serve you more relevant advertisements (referred to as “Retargeting”). We also collect information about where you saw the ads we serve you and what ads you clicked on.

Scope

This policy (represented on the webpage) applies to any personal information which HFMN may collect when you visit our website. The primary purpose of HFMN’s website is to be a useful and dynamic resource and a business-enabling tool to help you learn more about our services and provide you information and content of value. We want your experience to be secure and comfortable and we are committed to maintaining your privacy..

This privacy policy does not apply to the practices of any legal entities or companies that HFMN does not control or own, or to any people that HFMN does not manage or employ.

Overriding Privacy Sentiment

While we do occasionally send information on behalf of our sponsors and members that we feel you might be interested in, our commitment is: We NEVER sell or otherwise share any information about you without your explicit consent. We also ALWAYS offer you an easy opt-out.

How we gather information and serve our advertising and promotional messages to you: HFMN may target ads based on data provided by Advertisers or partners alone or in combination with the data we collect ourselves. Any data used to serve targeted advertisements is de-identified and is not used to personally or directly identify you. We require third parties, including Publishers, to provide notice and obtain appropriate consent, where required by applicable law.

What Do We Do With the Information Collected?

HFMN requires this information to better understand the needs that you may have in terms of the services we offer and provide you with the better experience and services. We may also use this information for:

  • Internal records for correspondence.
  • Providing you with the information you request, process online requests (job applications, resources) and for other purposes.
  • Improve our service offerings and personalize your experience.
  • Periodically send promotional emails about new service offerings, webinars, technology events or any other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided.
  • Contacting you for the collection of feedback and for marketing purposes where you have agreed.
  • Any postings, comments or other content that you may post on our website.
  • Disclosing your personal data to third parties in the event that we sell or liquidate any part of our business or assets.
  • Complying with any legal obligation, or to enforce or apply our Terms of Use; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of HFMN , our clients, or others.

How Secure Is The Information Collected?

HFMN is committed to ensuring that your personal information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Regarding your use of our websites, it should be noted that the open nature of the Internet is such that information and personal data may flow over networks connecting you to our systems without security measures in some cases and may be accessed and used by people other than those for whom the data is intended.

In case you follow a link to any of the sites which may be arising out of HFMN’s website, please note that these sites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies or sites. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these sites.

HFMN is compliant with the leading internationally recognized compliance and security standards.

For How Long Do We Retain The Data?

We will retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary. If you have an association or an account with us, we will only keep the data while your account is active or for as long as needed to provide services to you and as further needed for us to comply with our legal and contractual obligations. Contractor University learner information is kept for a minimum of seven years.

How Can You Control The Information Provided?

As a user, you may choose to restrict the information that we have collected or the way in which the same would be used, in the following ways:

Whenever you are providing personal information, ensure that the explicit consent is checked. In case you do not want to provide the consent, personal information shall not be collected in the first place.

In case you would not want to share your personal information for any marketing related purposes or promotional emails, you should leave the appropriate option unchecked and/or write an email to us at education@HousingFirstMN.org.

We generally do not make decisions by purely automatic means, but if we do, you have the right to object.

In case you have previously subscribed or agreed to us for sharing your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may opt out the same anytime by writing an email to education@HousingFirstMN.org.

HFMN shall not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your explicit consent to do so or are required by law to do so.

HFMN may transfer personal information if it acquires, or is acquired by or merged with, another company. In this event, we will notify you before your personal information is migrated/ported to the new organization or comes under the jurisdiction of another privacy policy.

In case you would like to withdraw, erase, update/modify the personal information that we hold about you, please inform us by writing an email to education@HFMN.org and we shall take the necessary actions.

Third Parties On Our Websites and Our Members & Advertisers' Websites

In order to allow HFMN to reach the best inventory online, we work with third party advertising companies (our “Advertising Partners”) to help us recognize you and serve relevant advertisements to you when you visit a website or online service in their network. We also work with Advertising Partners who help us recognize you across different devices in order to show you relevant advertisements. Our Advertising Partners may collect information about your activities on our website, our Advertisers’ websites, and other websites or online services in their networks. We also work with third party companies to assist us with website analytics such as evaluating the use and operation of our website so that we can continue to enhance the website and our services.

How Do We Use Cookies? Cookie-Policy.

HFMN uses technologies such as cookies and pixels to keep track of your activities on our website and our Advertiser’s websites, and to serve you more relevant advertisements. A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your device for record-keeping purposes. A cookie is a packet of information sent by a server to a World Wide Web browser and then sent back by the browser each time it accesses that server (definition: Wikipedia). Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit any website and allow the website to recognize your device. Cookies are used for authentication, tracking, and maintaining user-specific information and often contain a unique and anonymous identifier. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can change the settings in your browser to allow you to accept or decline cookies depending upon your preferences.

We analyze your IP and browser information to determine what is most effective about our website, to help us identify ways to improve it and make it more effective. HFMN’s website does not usually refer to any other external website. In the case where there is a reference to other websites, HFMN’s privacy policy does not apply to those websites. You are requested to read the privacy policy of these websites to gain more information.

By using our website, you agree that we can place cookies and other similar technologies on your device (including mobile devices) as explained in this Cookies policy. By continuing to use your mobile device to access this website, you agree that the following information may be collected: your unique device identifier, mobile device IP address, information about your device’s operating system, mobile carrier details and your location related information (to the extent permissible under applicable law).

Why Do We Use Cookies?

To ensure a better experience. Cookies do a lot of different things, such as navigating between different pages efficiently, remembering user preferences and helping us to ensure that content that is seen is more relevant to you and your interests.

Do We Use Cookies for Marketing and Analytics?

HFMN, based on the requirement, may use information collected from our cookies to identify user behavior and to serve content and offers based on your profile, and for the other related purposes. Some of the cookies we use don’t collect information that identifies a visitor. For example – Performance cookies (refer below) and Targeting cookies (refer below) where you are not a registered user. In other cases, we can associate cookie information with an identifiable individual. For example – If we send you a targeted email which includes web beacons, cookies or similar technologies we will know whether you open, read, or delete the message; and when you click a link in a marketing email you receive from us, we will also use a cookie to log what pages you view and what content you download from our websites, even if you are not registered at or signed into our site.

Type of Cookies Used

  • “Session” cookies are temporary and once you close the browser window, they are deleted from your device.
  • “Persistent” cookies to keep track of your activities when you visit our website or our Advertisers’ websites, and to serve you relevant advertisements. Our Advertising Partners also place persistent cookies on your device when you visit our website or our Advertisers’ websites in order to help us recognize you and serve relevant advertisements to you when you visit their website or online service or websites in their networks. HFMN's policy is that our Advertising Partners only collect information that does not personally or directly identify you via these cookies and we will cease working with partners found violating this policy. You can remove cookies by following directions provided in your Internet browser’s “help” file. You may also decline our cookies if your browser permits, but doing so may interfere with your use of our website.
  • “Strictly Necessary cookies” – These cookies are essential in order to enable you to navigate around the site and use its features. Without these, services you have asked for cannot be provided and may result in a meager user experience.
  • “Functionality cookies” – These cookies allow a site to remember choices you make (such as your username or the region you are in) and provide more enhanced personal features. These cookies cannot track your browsing activity on other websites. They don’t gather any information about you that could be used for advertising or remembering where you’ve been on the Internet outside our site.
  • “Performance cookies” – These cookies collect information about your visit and use of this website, for instance, which pages you visit the most often, and if you get error messages from web pages. These cookies don’t collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is anonymous and is only used to improve how this website works.
  • Targeting cookies – These cookies are used to deliver content more relevant to you and your interests; and limit the number of times you see the same content; and also, to help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign, if any; and understand users’ behavior. They are usually placed on behalf of advertising networks with the site operator’s permission. They remember that you have visited a site and quite often they will be linked to site functionality provided by the other organization. HFMN does not use third-party advertising on our site, so we do not use these Targeting cookies for advertising but we use them for gathering analytics and intelligence about the site.

Do We Use Cookies From Any Third Parties?

Some cookies we use are from third party companies, such as Google Analytics to provide us with web analytics and intelligence about our sites. These companies use programming code to collect information about your interaction with our sites, such as the pages you visit, the links you click on and how long you are on our sites. This code is only active while you are active on our website. For more information on how these companies collect and use information on our behalf, please refer to their respective privacy policies. HFMN may use non-tracking cookie technologies such as web beacons (including conversion pixels) or other technologies for similar purposes as above and we may include these on our sites, in marketing e-mail messages or our newsletter, to determine whether messages have been opened and links clicked on. Web beacons do not place information on your device, but they may work in conjunction with cookies to monitor website activity.

Do We Allow Not To Use Cookies?

Possible to an extent. By using HFMN’s website you agree that we can place cookies on your device including a mobile device. If you want to remove existing cookies from your device you can do this using your browser options. If you want to block future cookies being placed on your device you can change your browser settings to do this. Please bear in mind that deleting and blocking cookies will have an impact on your user experience as parts of the site may no longer work or take more time than usual to load the required contents. Unless you have adjusted your browser settings to block cookies, our system will issue cookies as soon as you visit our site or click on a link in a targeted email that we have sent you, even if you have previously deleted our cookies.

We may collect additional information from or about you in other ways not specifically described here. For example, we may collect information related to your contact with our customer support team or store results when you respond to a survey.

Some categories of personal information may be marked as mandatory in our online and offline forms. We may not be able to provide you with the product or service requested if you decide not to provide the personal information marked as mandatory.

We do not link the non-personally identifiable information we store using cookies (described above) to any personally identifiable information you submit while on our site.

How we share personal information with other parties: We may share your personal information with:

  • Our member & partner organizations, again, only with your consent; service providers under contract who assist us with our business operations, such as fraud prevention, bill collection, marketing, and technology services. Our service providers are only authorized to use your information in connection with the services they perform for us and not for their own benefit.
  • Credit bureaus to report outstanding negative balance accounts, as allowed by law.
  • Other third parties with your consent or direction to do so.
  • We may share information about you if necessary to comply with laws or regulations or in response to a valid subpoena, order, or government request, or to protect the rights of Housing First Minnesota/Contractor University or others.

Do We Analyze Personal Data?

We may. HFMN, based on the requirement, may combine data from publicly available sources, and from our different e-mail, website, and personal interactions with you (this includes information collected from our different sources. We combine this data to better assess your experience and to perform the other activities described throughout our privacy policy.

How We Protect Personal Information

We employ reasonable and appropriate security measures such as maintaining physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in compliance with applicable security requirements, including US federal and state regulations. We use computer safeguards such as firewalls and data encryption; we enforce physical access controls to our buildings and files; and we authorize access to personal information only for those employees who require it to fulfill their job responsibilities. All credit card information is encrypted with 128-bit SSL encryption before it is transmitted across the network. However, no security system is foolproof and we cannot guarantee the security of your information.

Transcripts

Release of learner transcript will only be available to the specific learner unless learner has provided written instructions, along with permission, to release transcript information to a third party. Learner proof of identity may be requested.

Contractor University Instructor Policies

Instructors shall not at any time while conducting the training on behalf of Housing First Minnesota or on Housing First Minnesota venues disparage any business, governmental entity or agency, person or association or its goods, products, or services; or make any comment or remark relating to a person’s race, religion, color, creed, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, status with respect to public assistance, or age, (except with respect to any approved course materials, such as a course on fair housing law) or make any comment or remark that is demeaning or offensive.

Instructors will disclose any proprietary interest in products, instruments, devices, services, or materials discussed during the course.

HFMN may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You are requested to check this page for any latest updates to ensure that you make yourself aware of any changes.

Further Questions

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact us:

Contractor University, Housing First Minnesota, 2960 Centre Pointe Drive, Roseville, MN 55113

651-697-7592 - education@housingfirstmn.org