When Evelyn Harrison learned her apartment building in Southeast Washington, D.C., was being sold she was shocked. "We were surprised because we never heard anything about it," says Evelyn.

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.

In the laundry room of White River Estates in Hesperia, Michigan, the colors are in the baskets that sit on top of the washing machines. They're also on the wall, thanks to a new mural project meant to bring people together. The project, painted by local artist Renae Wallace, draws on in the rural community's river and surroundings. 

A new deck for a retired veteran. An overgrown yard, weeded and tamed. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, NeighborWorks Green Bay is joining with Neighborhood Associations and the city to work on these projects and more. It's part of their Good Neighbor Week, held Sept. 21 to 27, the week leading up to National Good Neighbor Day. 

Elizabeth Alonzo-Villarreal works with a staff of eight at NeighborWorks Laredo, where she serves as CEO. But together, the staff helps about 1,000 others each year. So when the staff switched from working in a central office to working from home at the start of COVID-19, the organization utilized grants from NeighborWorks America to help things run more smoothly as they continued to provide homebuyer education, financial capability training and foreclosure prevention counseling.

Melodee Lister enjoys being around people. She was looking for something to do where she could be with people but, because she's a person with a disability, something where she could sit down. A friend told her about volunteer transportation at Kennebec Valley Community Action Program (KVCAP), a NeighborWorks network organization in Maine. She gets reimbursed for her mileage, she says. But the main reason the program was the perfect fit for Lister? "I like to help people."

The AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers at The Neighborhood Developers Inc. (TND), in Chelsea, Massachusetts, had been at their various assignments for just over seven months when everything changed. Starting in March, when the spread of COVID also caused the spread of hard financial times, there were new needs. For the VISTAs (Volunteers in Service to America), there were new responsibilities.

Victor Cruz, former wide receiver for the Super Bowl-winning New York Giants, believes giving back – and coming back – to a community can inspire others. He brought his own brand of inspiration to a conversation with Marietta Rodriguez, president and CEO of NeighborWorks America, during an afternoon workshop sponsored by JPMorgan Chase.

Black homeownership rates continue to lag behind those of the white community. This is a gap that the affordable housing and community development fields have strived to close for generations. And the issue hasn't gotten better over time. In fact, communities of color are consistently among the hardest hit during economic downturns.