At Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation (MMCDC), a NeighborWorks network organization in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, the COVID-19 pandemic made life more complicated. But a number of residents in the community had already been struggling, relates Laura McKnight, director of housing and real estate.

Better Family Life has worked with youth in the St. Louis community in various sports – tennis, basketball and soccer. Last year, in the middle of the pandemic, they added golf. Now, 20 to 25 kids, ages 8 to 17, participate on a junior PGA team, which has seasons in the summer and the fall.

The recent expansion of NeighborWorks America's network will allow member organizations to make an even greater collective impact in a number of areas, including education for future homeowners, financial coaching and wrap-around support through partnerships. The network also adds new Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), providing affordable lending opportunities for low- and middle-income individuals and businesses.

In Des Moines, Iowa, a NeighborWorks network organization is gearing up to create a garden that will be "on the map," literally. The project, set to take place during NeighborWorks Week, started with a zoo conservation program called Plant, Grow, Fly, explains Daphne Christensen, director of communications and marketing for Community Housing Initiatives (CHI).

A NeighborWorks America network organization in Ohio was able to help staff and East Akron residents with personal protective equipment (PPE), homeownership education and even groceries, thanks to a boost from NeighborWorks America and national banking partner Fifth Third Bank.

The letter was written by hand on lined paper. On those lines – and between them – was gratitude from a tenant trying to rebuild her life after an abusive marriage. She had come to the transitional townhomes at Mennonite Housing Rehabilitation Services, Inc., in Kansas with her three children. But the progress she had made in rebuilding her life seemed to come to a halt when COVID-19 took away her employment. 

The Tableau Fellows, a cohort chosen from among NeighborWorks America's network organizations, work to tell new stories about their nonprofits through the information they collect, with the help of mentors, using Tableau, which helps organi

In Lincoln, Nebraska, Tim Rinne and Kay Walter launched an urban gardening movement in their Hawley neighborhood. In an area classified as a food desert, the couple devised a plan to increase access to fresh, healthy produce, while also developing a way to bring their neighbors closer together. The idea formed about 10 years ago when Tim became increasingly more concerned about how climate change could potentially affect the food supply.