A national housing counseling program designed and administered by NeighborWorks America is working to make an impact. The Housing Stability Counseling Program (HSCP) was designed to support families and individuals who are facing foreclosure, eviction or homelessness as a result of pandemic-related economic fallout. NeighborWorks America was charged with implementing the $100 million program as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. 

A national housing counseling program designed and administered by NeighborWorks America is working to make an impact. The Housing Stability Counseling Program (HSCP) was designed to support families and individuals who are facing foreclosure, eviction or homelessness as a result of pandemic-related economic fallout. NeighborWorks America was charged with implementing the $100 million program as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. 

Pensacola Habitat for Humanity, a NeighborWorks network organization in Florida, has instituted a new weatherization program. WRAP (Weatherization & Repair Assistance Program) will use funds from Gulf Power to provide subsidized loans for low-income families who need critical home repairs.

As NeighborWorks America highlights stories about the work of individuals and nonprofits in our network, those stories may sometimes relate painful or traumatizing experiences. Isay Gulley's personal narrative includes her experience with threats and racism, which led to her determination for homeownership not only for her family, but for others in her community.

Isay Gulley believes you have to have more than a job; you have to have a goal and mission in your

September is National Preparedness Month, a time to prepare for disasters or emergencies that could happen at any time. Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida (NHSSF) is spending the month putting the finishing touches on a new loan program that will help families prepare their properties for emergencies, says Juan Carlos Gordillo, marketing and communications manager for the NeighborWorks network organization.

​The cucumbers are ready, dangling on the vines at Splitlog Farm and Orchard, an urban farm that is a partnership between Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC) and KC Healthy Kids. On raised beds, the property produces the cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries, cherries and more. An apiary is also on site.

Symphony Malveaux, community relations coordinator for Louisiana's Mid City Redevelopment Alliance, had been reading up on home scams as she prepared to bring awareness to her community through NeighborWorks America's Stop Home Scams initiative. Then she realized she'd nearly fallen victim to a scam herself. 

Carrie Davis, president and CEO of Wealth Watchers, Inc., a NeighborWorks organization, began helping Black farmers during the 2008 housing crisis, encouraging them to use their land to grow food to keep families and neighbors fed – and to provide extra money to offset job losses when factories shut down. In 2020 and 2021, during the pandemic and the economic crisis that accompanied it, she is again encouraging backyard farmers to let the land help with both food and finances.

NeighborWorks America's network organizations pivoted quickly over the last year to make sure their residents were safe. They provided rental assistance. They provided food. And some even partnered with health departments to respond directly to the pandemic. 

Unprecedented. Difficult. Heartbreaking. The words that come up when people discuss 2020 are rarely positive. But as a pandemic and economic hardships spread across the United States, NeighborWorks network organizations moved quickly, created new partnerships, worked long hours and offered new services to help residents in their communities. As we begin a new calendar year, we asked a few leaders across the network to share some of their thoughts about the year we just completed, and about the year ahead.