NeighborWorks Organization Seeks to Help Seniors in Contest from Tom’s of Maine

In what is increasingly becoming commonplace for community-based nonprofits, Neighborhood Housing Services of Boise, a member of the NeighborWorks network, is competing for a “favorite” grant from a socially responsible for-profit company – Tom’s of Maine.

The NHS of Boise is competing for part of $150,000 from the environmentally conscious company, which is an independent but wholly-owned part of the global Colgate family of companies. NHS is hoping to use the grant that it could receive from Tom’s 50 States for Good competition to finance its Rake Up Boise campaign, an initiative that involves coordinating more than 6,000 volunteers to rake and winterize the yards of more than six hundred senior citizens and/or disabled people.

Tom’s of Maine is just one of a number of for-profit companies and their foundations that are combining “favorite” voting and grant making. For example, The Home Depot Foundation is currently engaged in an “Aprons in Action” campaign where consumers are asked to vote for their favorite Team Depot Project. A search around the Internet turned up “favorite” fund raising programs from Pepsi, Subaru Discovery Channel’s Planet Green and more.

With financial and in-kind support for community-based nonprofits not expected to grow this year or next, fund raising approaches that engage an organization’s friends and its friend’s friends, is one way nonprofits are working to attract new volunteers and financial resources.

Meanwhile, if you care about helping seniors take care of their homes cast a vote for NHS of Boise. Voting ends September 13.

NeighborWorks America Kicks Off NeighborWorks Training Institute in Atlanta



Pictured above: An attendee at a past
NeighborWorks Training Institute
 captivates the audience with her
thought-provoking question. 



Today, NeighborWorks America kicked off what is expected to be the second largest NeighborWorks Training Institute (NTI) in the NeighborWorks history! More than 2,000 community development practitioners are expected to attend this week’s Training Institute in Atlanta, August 8-12, 2011.

During the Atlanta NTI, attendees will participate in over 100 training and certification sessions offered – from foreclosure intervention counseling and Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM) counseling to an introduction to Factory Built Housing and Green Building Science. 

In addition to the training courses offered, the NTI will feature a day-long symposium on August 10 focused on “Ensuring Safe, Healthy Homes and Communities for Seniors.” It will bring together thought leaders and industry experts to introduce and explore real-world strategies for creating healthy, vital communities that include seniors as a growing and important segment of our population.  The Symposium is made possible with generous support from The Atlantic Philanthropies.

As people get older and live longer, affordable housing providers need to consider what services they should provide — including transportation, healthcare, safety precautions, home maintenance and social and financial services — that will better serve the seniors in their communities.

Topics that will be covered during the Symposium include:

• Successful programs that make homes for seniors safer, more affordable and an asset to the surrounding community
• Partnering with health and social service providers to ensure seniors are receiving the care they need to continue to be active, productive members of your community
• Design and benefits of multi-generational communities
• Resources for effective home rehabilitation, retrofitting and weatherization

To follow the Symposium discussion on Twitter, search for the Twitter hashtag #seniorhousing to view panelist and attendee comments throughout the day. 

For more information about the Atlanta NTI, please visit www.nw.org/training, or contact Erin Angell Collins, 202-220-6317, eangell@nw.org. 

The next NeighborWorks Training Institute will be held December 12-16, 2011, in Washington, D.C.