NeighborWorks America Reaches Out to Vietnamese Community

NeighborWorks America supported a first-ever Vietnamese Community Leadership Institute (CLI) in Seattle in September. It was sponsored by NeighborWorks Community Building and Organizing Program, at the request of its member organization HomeSight, Inc. NeighborWorks sponsors national community leadership institutes each year, but this was the first time a NeighborWorks organization has held an in-language, culturally-based institute.

“Many local NeighborWorks organizations have created their own local CLI's upon return from one of our national events,” said Susan Naimark, acting director of NeighborWorks national CBO programs. “When Tony To, HomeSight's executive director, asked for support to do a bilingual CLI for the Vietnamese community, we were glad to offer our assistance.”

HomeSight hired one of NeighborWorks most seasoned community building and organizing trainers, Karimah Nonyameko, to work with a local Vietnamese trainer. This ensured the relevancy and cultural appropriateness of the training. Having the program in-language also made it a lot more personal for the people involved.

“I’ve been to a lot of leadership training in my line of work, but the VCLI gave me tools to reinforce my knowledge and it also renewed my passion to work in the community,” Thu-Van Nguyen, who works at Asian Counseling and Referral Services, told Northwest Vietnamese news.

“We look forward to sharing the materials and learnings from this event with other organizations across our network,” said Naimark.“It's a great model for working with non-English speaking communities, giving them tools to engage with each other and the broader community.”

View photos from the event.

NeighborWorks Spotlights Seven High-Impact Social Media Trends for Neighborhoods and Local Nonprofits

With all the talk about Facebook, Twitter and online social networks lately, it’s easy to lose sight of the impact of social media on neighborhoods and nonprofit community development efforts.

Here are seven trends worth noting.

NeighborWorks Discusses Foreclosure in Black Communities at Congressional Black Caucus Conference

On September 24, National Initiatives and Applied Research Director Nelson Merced was part of a Congressional Black Caucus panel discussion on the current economic recession that has destabilized rates of black homeownership and the economic fates of many African Americans. The panel examined the current scope of the housing and foreclosure crisis in the black community and implications for homeowners and renters, as well as policy solutions critical to fostering housing and economic security among African Americans. View talking points.

NeighborWorks COO Tells Congressional Committee That Working with Servicers Continues to be a Challenge for Counselors

NeighborWorks America COO Eileen Fitzgerald recently told the Congressional Committee overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that while a number of improvements are being made to the Making Home Affordable Program, counselors continue to face difficulty working with servicers.

In testimony before the committee on September 24, Fitzgerald described several factors that continue to limit the success of the program, including difficult and inefficient communications between servicers and counselors, servicers’ disregard for the guidelines of the program, and frustrations with the system as a whole.

Fitzgerald said, for example, that it can take as long as two hours to reach a mortgage servicer. Some homeowners send in documentation, but are asked to do so again. And at times, Fitzgerald said, mortgage servicers are reluctant to disclose the full terms of the new loan. Read AP coverage. View testimony.

Nearly 1.5 Million Take Advantage of the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit

With the help of NeighborWorks Green Bay, Lori Guns was one of nearly one-and-a-half million first-time home buyers nationwide who have taken advantage of the $8,000 federal tax credit. It took the Wisconsin resident nearly two years to achieve her dream of homeownership, but on September 22 she was handed the keys to her first home, according to local ABC news affiliate WBAY. The IRS estimates that the first-time homebuyer tax credit program, set to expire in November, has helped nearly 1.5 million people like Guns purchase their first home, and some are calling on Congress to extend the program. Read about and view video of Guns’ success story.