Forty-Nine Community Development Leaders Graduate from NeighborWorks’ Achieving Excellence Program

NeighborWorks America announces the graduation of 49 community development leaders from NeighborWorks America’s prestigious Achieving Excellence in Community Development program offered in association with Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.The graduation of the fourth Achieving Excellence class occurred on March 4, during the NeighborWorks Training Institute in New Orleans.

Achieving Excellence is an 18-month educational program for seasoned executive directors and senior level staff in community organizations that have a focus on affordable housing, community revitalization or community economic development. Through this program, graduates specifically addressed one of the most critical challenges facing their organizations, identified and implemented solutions that not only dramatically changed how the organizations do business, but also fostered lasting community change.

Independent evaluations have shown that in just the first Achieving Excellence two classes alone, graduates have collectively achieved the following:

• Total clients served increased by 146 percent collectively;
• More than $12.3 million in new income generated by 23 organizations;
• Average total assets per organization increased by 23 percent, while the average increase attributed directly to Achieving Excellence was $6,860,507 per organization with $96,047,109 in aggregate;
• Affordable housing units developed and managed increased 32 percent and
  22 percent, respectively;
• Approximately 2,500 new affordable rental homes developed, managed or acquired by 18 organizations;
• 89,100 square feet new commercial space created by 7 organizations.

Learn more in the NeighborWorks newsroom.