Before the pandemic, when Junie Celestin, student loan counselor at Urban Edge, saw clients with loan debt, she was helping them get out of default. During the pandemic, with a moratorium on student loan interest and payments, the questions she's getting have changed.

Energy awareness, weatherization and home repairs can make a difference in a resident's power bill. William Achnitz, vice president of home improvement and optimization for Community Development Corporation of Long Island (CDCLI), has a list of improvements his organization makes that have a significant impact. "Insulation, air sealing, window replacement, caulking, weather stripping, door sweeps, fans to increase ventilation, heating system repairs," he begins.

In Boston, leaders are calling the mural a "love letter to Roxbury." Created in conjunction with Madison Park Development Corporation's 55th anniversary, a mobile mural is helping bring a cohesive spirit to the Nubian Square corridor. And that, says Kay Mathew, resource development manager, is exactly what public art is supposed to do.
 

Onboarding new staff members is a critical business process made even more challenging during a pandemic. When faced with this situation, Windham & Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT), a community land trust in Brattleboro, Vermont, chose NeighborWorks America online training to provide their new hires with industry updates and resources to help them succeed. 

Growing up in New York, Jessica Padilla Gonzalez watched the way her parents fostered community. The two of them had come to New York's Washington Heights from Puerto Rico as teenagers. When he was in his early 20s, Padilla Gonzalez's father, Porfirio, opened a meat market. "Everyone knew his

When a group of residents from NeighborWorks Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) attended NeighborWorks America's Community Leadership Institute, a training event aiming to strengthen the voice and skills of community and resident leaders, they already had an idea of what they wanted to do. Their project idea?

Chef Space, a Community Ventures kitchen incubator, wanted to find a simple way to help the community. They started by collecting food for residents when COVID-19 was at its peak. This summer, once they learned students were going back to school in person, they decided to help them with the supplies they needed for the school year. While backpacks may not have been a necessity last year with kids at home, they are now.

When a crisis strikes, NeighborWorks network organizations have tools to help. During the pandemic, one of the most visible tools was financial counseling, reports Michael Rayder, associate director of development with Maine's Avesta Housing. Individuals in Avesta's apartment rental homes lost jobs, hours and wages. "They needed to re-evaluate how they managed their budgets," Rayder says. "Financial capability was the way for us to provide services for people who were suddenly in crisis mode."