For Adeshia Session, it starts with a phone call. But it's more than that, says the community health worker at Beyond Housing in St. Louis, Missouri. "It's about making a connection." Session, who has been in her post for three years, reaches out to residents with Type 2 diabetes. The clients she gets are often referrals from a local, partnering hospital. "In that first phone call, I explain what I do. And how our program can help." From that phone call, a relationship is born.

Lauren Blackstun used to feel  the chill of winter in her living room. But her home is now energy efficient, thanks to  Missouri's North East Community Action Corporation (NECAC).

Culture and arts are often considered luxuries for the people that Better Family Life helps and empowers, says DeBorah Ahmed, co-founder and vice president of Cultural Arts at the NeighborWorks network organization. They shouldn't be.

In 2019, Gloria Ortiz-Fisher, executive director of Westside Housing, was considering new ways to help clients. That's when she learned about a program helping residents establish credit by formally reporting on something they already did each month: Pay rent.

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.

One of the most effective ways NeighborWorks America's financial counselors help clients at NeighborWorks network organizations is by playing matchmaker. They identify the programs that can best lead their clients toward financial stability and independence. Programs like rent reporting to build credit and incentivized savings can make a real difference, says Molly Barackman-Eder, director of financial capability at NeighborWorks America. Those programs can be found throughout the NeighborWorks network.

On Track in Vermont

NeighborWorks network organizations across the country celebrated NeighborWorks Week with paint, plants, trash pickups, cards, signs, hammers, nails, food, and all of the other trappings you’d expect in a community celebration. Held each year the first full week in June, NeighborWorks Week highlights the collective impact of NeighborWorks America’s nearly 250 network nonprofits. The week, celebrated nationally since 1983, also celebrates the resiliency and strength of communities.

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.

Hilly Jacklin had wanted to own a house for years, and the one she finally found was beyond her wildest dreams: a Victorian-style duplex, built in 1895, in Hannibal, Missouri. Half, she would be able to rent to help her afford the mortgage. The other side, she would live in herself.