The line of faculty members snaked around the meeting room at the NeighborWorks Training Institute in Chicago in August 2023. The task was to line up according to who had been a part of NeighborWorks America's premiere, professional training the longest. Peg Barringer, an economic development practitioner, and Ethan Pope, a community development professional who has taught courses on subjects from financial fitness for counselors to homebuyer education methods, stood together at the head of the line.
"Or maybe it was the end," Barringer jokes. Finally, they determined that Barringer has been teaching for NeighborWorks just a little longer than Pope. She got her start by working at NeighborWorks when it was still known as Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp., serving as a commercial and economic specialist before heading the nonprofit's Department of Economic Development and Financial 
Management Services. Next came work at a Boston-based consulting firm for several years, before she and a partner started their business, FinePoint Associates, in 2007. She still serves as managing director with a team of seven specialists focused on economic development and housing finance compliance.
Barringer has also been a long-time faculty member at Tufts University, teaching in the graduate program of Urban Policy and Planning. And since the mid-1980s, she's taught classes for NeighborWorks.
Tell us a little about your early teaching days.
"The first time I taught at NeighborWorks, it wasn't for an official training institute but it was definitely a precursor. At that time, NeighborWorks used to provide a weeklong training for new executive directors once a year in Chicago."
As a NeighborWorks staffer, she was tapped to share some of her knowledge about working with commercial development in distressed areas. The first official training institute was headed up by Tracy Taft, then director of training.
"She was a true visionary, determined to grow that little, once per year, training program into something much bigger. The first institute was in Los Angeles and was organized on a shoestring budget, and Tracy had found an underutilized facility – I think it might have been a museum. As it turned out, the space was not in good shape, so the training staff actually went in and cleaned and painted the classrooms, working right up until we started. I remember lots of energetic people trying to pull something off for the very first time. And wet paint."
What led you to teach with NeighborWorks?
"I was recruited to teach and help with curriculum development when the institute was developing, and then I got caught up in the enthusiasm of all of these people, the training staff and faculty, building and growing the institute together. It felt very much like a team effort. The institute went from a few classes once a year to, at one point, five institutes a year with thousands of attendees. I've pretty much taught at all of them since the beginning."
Do you have a teaching philosophy you'd like to share?
"In medical schools they have the methodology: See one, do one, teach one. I like that approach. As much as possible, I try to show examples and use case study exercises where students get to solve problems in a safe space. I also give them the experience of presenting to each other. It increases your understanding when you have to explain something to someone else." She's also known for using games in class, especially when it comes to review: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Concentration and more.
Why do you keep coming back?
"I think it keeps me on my toes. I like connecting to students who are working on the front lines addressing economic development issues in their communities. I get to give them technical guidance while hearing about new things they're working on in their communities."
Do you have a favorite course you've taught?
"I like courses where I can break down complex concepts and demystify numbers and equations. I like it when someone who considers themselves a ‘numbers person' comes in and leaves with a deeper understanding. But I also like it when a person who does not consider themselves a numbers person still feels comfortable in the class and leaves with enough knowledge to take part in a conversation about program design or policy."
What are you teaching this year?
Commercial Real Estate Development, Community Economic Development Finance, Analytical Tools and Methods and Community Economic Development Principles, Practices and Strategies.
Why is training or continuing education important?
"Because things are always changing. For example, trends accelerated by the pandemic like online shopping and remote working have impacted commercial real estate and small business conditions in our communities. Continuing education fosters the growth of ideas and helps individuals keep up with new approaches to evolving circumstances.
Do you ever take classes yourself?
"I'm a perpetual student. I just recently took a class in how to use pivot tables and macros in Excel to analyze data. That truly challenged my gray matter. I often take classes like that. On the recreational side, I take yoga and Pilates classes all of the time. Next month, I'm signed up for pickleball lessons."
You do both academic and professional development teaching. How are they different? "In the case of graduate students, I'm with them over a few months and see how new knowledge opens their thinking over time. We work on bigger projects, and I see them develop. During professional development training like NTIs, I have students with more experience to share and real-life problems to solve back in their communities. Teaching becomes a more dynamic process."
Learn from Peg Barringer and faculty members like her at the upcoming NeighborWorks Training Institute and Virtual Training Institute.
02/21/2024
