Leadership Development and Community Building Activities Improve Communities and Help the Bottom Line

This blog entry is reposted from our Leaders for Communities website.
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By Sara Varela NeighborWorks America Community Building and Organizing communications specialist

Twin Cities Community Development Corporation in Fitchburg, MA wrote a fantastic example of how community building and organizing activities help an organization’s bottom line, and how leadership development improves a neighborhood. These are my favorite types of stories. What do you think about them? Read the examples below and leave a comment.

Examples of leadership development improving a neighborhood are reflected in these two stories:


Three residents involved with Twin Cities CDC spoke on behalf of the Elm Street Area Neighborhood Association in front of the City Council Public Works Committee. Residents LeNeia Thomas, Paysha Rhone and James Kayaba had not spoken much publicly before, but they advocated earnestly for sidewalk and road improvements in their neighborhood. They argued the improvements would enhance the safety of children and elders in the area. Prior to this action, all the three resident leaders attended either or both  the NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute and the Community Action Training sponsored by Twin Cities CDC. Thanks to their efforts, the process for paving these streets has begun.

A second story relates to a resident-led open house and barbeque. As Twin Cities CDC finished building new homes in the Elm Street Area, the organization became concerned about selling them. The first home had been on the market for two years. The construction had created debt, other homes were adding to the organization's inventory and there was pressure to sell the homes under the rules for HUD's HOME program.

Residents decided to hold a block party to help sell the homes. They got out the grill, organized the music and that day the first home was sold to an employee of Fitchburg State University! Two of the three homes for sale were sold shortly after this event, greatly relieving financial stress on the organization and proving what the residents of the neighborhood already knew: people wanted to live in the neighborhood.

Residents were also excited about a new daycare business inside a formerly foreclosed home. They welcomed the daycare with a press conference and used this as yet another opportunity to sell a new homes. At the time Twin Cities submitted their quarterly report to NeighborWorks America, the last of the new homes had been put under agreement and another home they rehabilitated was also under agreement.

Community building activities and resident leadership development are not often looked as money makers for an organization, but these stories demonstrate that resident activities can help an organization’s bottom line!

NeighborWorks Prepares for MLK Day of Service

By Nikki Perez
NeighborWorks America VISTA leader

The NeighborWorks VISTA Program was established in 2009 to increase the capacity of local NeighborWorks organizations by adding full-time VISTA members in critical areas, such community stabilization, resident engagement and others. The program helps organizations facing increased demand caused by the foreclosure crisis and reduced resources due to the recession. The program also helps attract and retain new and diverse talent to the community development field while providing meaningful service opportunities for those who wish to support their country and their communities.

On January 21, 2013 millions of people around the nation will come together in volunteer efforts in honor of The MLK National Day of Service, making it "a day on, not a day off." In support of this national call to serve, the NeighborWorks VISTA Program has encouraged VISTA members and NeighborWorks organizations to assist their communities through acts of service. This year, some planned Martin Luther King (MLK) day activities include:

Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation 
Ventura, California

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C.
Creative Commons photo by The Uprooted Photographer

VISTA member Victor Espinosa will facilitate a community dialogue on the meaning of Martin Luther King’s words and actions. The discussion will include topics such as race, equality and social justice in Ventura County. Rather than viewing Dr. King’s legacy of racial, social, and economic justice as a historical victory, this event seeks to connect his legacy to an ongoing social justice struggle, recover critical, yet less-examined facets of King’s words, and connect them to current local social justice movements. Additional event details on the Presidential Inauguration Committee's National Day of Service website.

Neighborhood Housing Services of Richland County 
Richland Center, Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin Ph.D. candidate, Simon Balto will give a free civil rights talk. VISTA member Robert Johnson will provide the introduction to the lecture and include some information about the earned income tax credit. This discussion will be advertised in the community with all encouraged to attend.

Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven 
New Haven, Connecticut

On Saturday, VISTA members at Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven will be sanding the living room floor of a former Visiting Nurses Association nurse who due to a stroke, has physical limitations and cannot go up stairs and uses the living room for her bedroom.

On Sunday, VISTA member, Joey Rosenberg of Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven will be volunteering with the Yale Peabody Museum for their MLK Environmental and Social Justice Event. The event will help children learn about MLK Jr. and ways to save the environment through stage performances and learning booths. Many organizations in the area will have having booths and Joey will be serving at the United Community and Family Services booth.

On Monday, VISTA members at Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven are planning to volunteer with the Veterans Affair making welcoming baskets. These baskets are filled with household items for formerly homeless veterans who are moving into new apartments.

NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley 
Woonsocket, Rhode Island

This year for NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley’s MLK Day of Service event the MLK Community Service Committee are collaborating with community members to create murals dedicated to MLK’s message and the community’s cultural diversity. The murals will be painted at the Woonsocket Police Station, Woonsocket High School and the YMCA in downtown Woonsocket. There will also be a neighborhood cleanup effort on the same day. Read more about the event here.

Want to join an event? Visit the Presidential Inauguration Committee's National Day of Service website to find an event near you. 

Believing in the People We Help

 This blog entry is reposted from our Leaders for Communities website.

By Sara Varela 
NeighborWorks America
Community Building and Organizing
communications specialist

The other day I told my nine-year-old he was in charge of preparing lunch for the family, since we were all very busy and hungry. I told him to prepare tuna sandwiches, and gave him all the ingredients he needed. He was more than thrilled to take on a major responsibility like that one. He has seen his dad, his older sister and I take turns at preparing and serving meals all his life, but he seldom gets to do it. I told him to prepare the sandwiches, serve them, set the table and call us when lunch was ready. He did a fantastic job; yes, the sandwiches weren’t as perfect as they’d been if I had done them, but my son accomplished the main goal of feeding us himself.

Trusting others to perform important tasks themselves is a critical part of helping them grow, and this concept is highly applicable in the nonprofit world.

Compost Cadet at work

My employer, NeighborWorks America, is a grant-maker which means we rely on our grantees to use our funds responsibly on projects that help the community directly and also inspire residents to help themselves.  Recently, I saw pictures from a NeighborWorks project with affiliate Chinatown Community Development Center (Chinatown CDC) in San Francisco. The photos give a visual example of how Chinatown CDC has used a $10,000 Deep Green Community Building and Organizing (CB&O) Impact grant to empower resident leaders and youth to educate the community on waste reduction through proper composting and recycling.

One of Chinatown CDC's main goals was to focus on leadership and ownership by residents for a more sustainable green community. The approach Chinatown CDC took creating this ownership and leadership among residents was comprehensive and ultimately quite successful. Some activities supported by the grant were:

• Lunch Program: Twenty-four youth volunteers educated other youth (and even some parents) to properly sort items into compost, recycling, and trash bins. The 12 volunteers alternated shifts each day, making sure that there were three people teaching the kids at all times. By the end of summer, the volunteers were just a presence because the kids were automatically doing it correctly.

• Arts & Crafts: Led by a resident volunteer, a group of five youth made wind chimes entirely from recycled items and learned about the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling.

• Compost Cadets: Eleven youth eagerly volunteered to be Compost Cadets (or Compost Cops, as they called themselves). These young leaders were trained to monitor residents at community events to make sure they were properly sorting their garbage. The Compost Cadets created their own badges and ticket booklets. They rewarded good behavior with environmentally-friendly stickers and they educated people they caught throwing food items or recyclables into the wrong bins.

Compost Cadet at work

The pride that my son felt at being handed an important responsibility and trusting him to getting it done well is the same pride I see in the photos of the children who were given the role of Compost Cadet. As I see the pictures of these young leaders, and the pride, ownership and responsibility that is reflected in them, I realized they embody what CB&O is all about: providing opportunities for skill building, giving residents leadership roles they might not have considered before and ultimately supporting resident-led improvements in their own communities.

There is nothing worse than setting up the stage for leadership development, and then not allowing space, or not trusting the people to take charge. Had I told my son he was responsible for lunch, and then taken over and made the sandwiches myself, or helped him because I didn’t trust he could do a good job, it wouldn’t have been the same. As practitioners I think it is important to walk our talk and really believe the people we want to help have the answers to their own problems. Our role is to enable them to find those answers, and then trust that their decisions were the best ones.

Partnerships Bring Energy Efficiency to Vermont

This blog post comes to us from Erica Bradley, NeighborWorks Rural Initiative VISTA

Blowing insulation in an attic is a great way to keep
energy costs down.

NeighborWorks Western Vermont (NWWVT) is in new territory with their focus on energy efficiency, thanks to a grant by the Department of Energy, and recently, a new partnership with Green Mountain Power.

“We have suddenly become a major player in the energy initiative in Vermont, “said NWWVT executive director Ludy Biddle. 

The new partnership between NWWVT and Green Mountain Power (GMP) comes two years after the Department of Energy granted $4.2 million to NWWVT as part of the Better Buildings program. According to the Department of Energy website, the program targets efficiency improvements such as lighting, better insulation and more efficient heating and cooling. Another program area is educating customers about energy efficiency and how to finance upgrades.

Under the grant, NWWVT’s Home Efficiency Assistance Team (HEAT) Squad schedules audits of homes with a certified contractor who issues recommendations and a cost estimate. An energy advisor from the HEAT Squad can then go over the recommendations with the client, including financing options. Biddle said 1,000 homes have to be done over a three- year period in Rutland County, and so far they have completed over 500. Biddle said they are on track to meet the 1,000 home requirement by 2013.

The HEAT Squad’s work laid the foundation for the partnership to form with Green Mountain Power. “We’ve been helping the utilities not directly, but by providing outreach, customer service, loan products and all of the things a NeighborWorks housing organization does for its clients, we’ve been doing to enhance the participation in the efficiency programs,” Biddle said.

GMP, Biddle said, has an interest in providing good customer service, especially in Southern Vermont. The company was formerly a small energy company with a service area in the northern part of the state, but in August, 2012 bought Central Vermont Public Service and now serves southern Vermont as well.

From L to R: Ludy Biddle, executive director of NWWVT;
Jim Merriam, director of Efficiency Vermont;
Jonathan Dancing, BPI contractor/auditor;
United States Congressman Peter Welch (VT-D),
and Mary Powel, CEO of Green Mountain Power.

“There was concern in our part of the state that high paying jobs and the corporate presence would leave the county and go north, and once again Burlington would get all the good things and we would be left with very little,” she said.

The concerns were unfounded, Biddle said, and GMP made several promises, including investing in Rutland, making it the solar capital of the state, and designing the Energy Innovation Center. “I genuinely see action behind the promises they made,” Biddle said.

One of the promises, the innovation center, is now taking shape. GMP invited NWWVT and Efficiency Vermont in as partners, and the three organizations will share office space in the center. For now, the center is located in the Opera House in downtown Rutland. GMP is renovating the Eastman's Building and has plans to move the innovation center there after renovations are complete. The Eastman’s Building, Biddle said, has long been a sore spot in Rutland.

Biddle said the renovations to the Eastman’s Building represent another investment in Rutland. She expects they will be moved in by fall, 2013. She expects to locate at least two members of the HEAT Squad there.

CVC Showcases What Can Happen to Foreclosed Properties When Government and Private Sector Work Together

Community Ventures Corporation, our affiliate in Kentucky, in partnership with the Governor’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office, Kentucky Department of Local Governments, Kentucky Housing Corporation, and other partners showcased what can happen to foreclosed properties when government and the private sector work together.

Attorney General Conway; Marshall Crawford,
NeighborWorks America; Governor Beshear; Kevin Smith,
Community Ventures Corporation

Today, the Hartford Place Apartments were highlighted as congratulations were made and partnerships were celebrated with all of the partners at CVC’s headquarters in Lexington. Attorney General Conway; Marshall Crawford, director, NeighborWorks America Southern District; Governor Beshear and Kevin Smith, president and CEO of CVC, spoke at the event.

CVC’s purchase of Hartford Place coincides with the Commonwealth’s neighborhood revitalization mission of acquiring and providing safe and decent affordable rental opportunities to low and middle income residents and returning foreclosed properties to a useful community asset.

The project consists of three buildings with a total of 49 units. The property, which was a foreclosed property for sale by lender, had only a 70 percent occupancy rate and needs rehab due to the poor condition of many of the units. Sixteen currently vacant units will be completely rehabbed, more efficient HVAC systems will be installed, one unit will be updated to meet handicap accessible criteria and resident services, such as financial literacy and homebuyer education, will be provided. All units will be rehabbed as they become vacant.

Kevin R. Smith, president and CEO of Community Ventures Corporation praised the public and private partnerships that made it possible for 49 families to have safe and affordable housing in Lexington. "Without all of these partners coming together, it couldn’t have happened," Smith said. "Families on Martha Court now have a place to call their own. Some of these folks have been through foreclosure and had to leave their home. Through this project, they have landed and can be successful as renters."