Resident leader gets boost from Oprah

Monica DeLancy was looking for a way to help her community, especially during the pandemic, when she saw so many people struggling with finances. Her program, We Thrive in Riverside Renters Association, created out of ideas that came to her during a NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute, got a boost with a $50,000 grant from the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation. DeLancy, a well-known advocate for renters in Cobb County, Georgia, took her check from the foundation, and converted it into dozens more, handing them to families in need.
 

Her smile is evident in her voice when she talks about that day – and when she thinks about the smiles of others. "We gave out 40 checks to 40 different residents who live in the area," DeLancy says. "The majority have two children who go to the local schools. I'm so glad Ms. Winfrey recognized the work and recognized our support of neighborhood communities."
 

DeLancy's community engagement started with a problem. The area where she lived in Cobb County had a high number of rentals. The high school in her district had 25 apartment complexes within the attendance zone boundary map. DeLancy feared that meant a large turnover in students and less engagement in the schools and in the PTA.
 

"I get it," she says. "Parents are trying to make sure the lights are on. Parents are trying to make sure their children are fed."
 

She thought it would be easier for the community to attract long-time renters if the residents knew more about where they were living. "If they could connect, if they could get their children involved, for example," DeLancy says. She put together a pamphlet, documenting every good thing she could find in her community. It was accessible. It was diverse. It was a great place to raise children. "And if you get to know your neighbor, you can build your own support system," she adds.
 

Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc. (ANDP), a NeighborWorks organization in Georgia, noticed her work, and made her a resident leader. The organization offered training through its own neighborhood summit and through NeighborWorks, known for training resident leaders.

Dorothy Mae Richardson was a resident leader, engaging women in her community to work with lenders and the government to help save her Pittsburgh neighborhood in the 1960s. Her work led to the founding of Neighborhood Housing Services of Pittsburgh, which became the national model for NeighborWorks America. At organizations throughout the country, resident leaders like DeLancy follow in her footsteps.
 

"Monica has participated in our NeighborWorks-inspired ‘Neighbors Together' resident leadership training program since 2016," says Susan Adams, ANDP's senior director of operations. "She always participates with purpose. Long before the COVID-19 crisis, she's been focused on ways to improve her community and those in need of a safety net."
 

Adams says DeLancy has taken full advantage of training opportunities with ANDP and especially at NeighborWorks America's national Community Leadership Institute (CLI). "We're very proud to support her efforts – and proud that her work serves as a guide for how other resident leaders can engage and change their communities to better meet the local need."
 

DeLancy trained at the Los Angeles CLI and returned home to mobilize renters to be more involved with their community. "It's a challenge," DeLancy says. "When you're a renter, and you're spending a high percentage of your income on rent, you're thinking about how you're going to get your rent paid – that's it."
 

But she organized groups to go with her to the capital to talk about the need for more subsidized housing and about rent control. This year, she educated groups about the eviction moratorium instituted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And she continued doing the work. She knew that it was hard for parents to take off in the middle of the day to learn about strategies that could help their kids, so DeLancy suggested bringing a program to them in the evening hours.
 

In December, CNN did a story about DeLancy and some of the women in her community who had gone to her for help. The story talked about the number of Americans who weren't up to date on rent or mortgage payments – 9.9 million according to a U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey. And it mentioned that DeLancy herself had dealt with eviction the year prior, something that DeLancy says is still painful. Someone on Oprah's team saw the story, DeLancy says, and offered her the grant.

DeLancy has been a renter all her life, since she started college, so she knows a lot about what renters go through. And if there's an emergency? "The safety net in the past was public housing," she says. "But that's just not plentiful." The goal, then, she says, is building a safety net in the community you have. 
 

Some of her biggest take-aways from her NeighborWorks training include:

Today, DeLancy continues to encourage residents – especially parents – to get involved in their communities. "You cannot do it by yourself," she says. "Don't ever feel that you cannot ask for help."