I Bet You Don’t Know What Co-Housing Is!

Ming and Pemba Sherpa with their daughters:
Cheten and Chewang
Photo taken by Jon Shenton, marketing and communications
coordinator at Champlain Housing Trust

by Sara Varela,

Communications Specialist, Community Building and Organizing

Champlain Housing Trust (CHT), a NeighborWorks member, is located in northwestern Vermont. CHT is a community land trust that supports strong, vital communities. Here is an example of the type of work they do as reported by Julia Curry, co-op and community organizer at CHT.

"Ming and Pemba Sherpa came to Vermont from Nepal eighteen years ago, but life really changed when they discovered Champlain Housing Trust  in 2004. They were raising twin daughters, Cheten and Chewang, in a small one-bedroom apartment, so were happy to learn they could afford a spacious three-bedroom place from CHT for almost the same monthly rent as their previous place. Their long-term hope, though, was to buy a home.

They found that opportunity at East Village Co-housing in Burlington, where a community of 32 condominium owners live collaboratively. Co-housing balances the privacy of separate apartments with a commitment to interaction and sustainability.

When the Sherpa Family first looked into buying they were told they could not get the mortgage they needed, despite their good credit. Once they learned about CHT's shared equity program, though, things moved quickly. They met the requirements, got a mortgage with a bank that knows CHT’s program, and bought their townhouse less than a month later.

“There’s a lot that we like about living here,” Pemba comments. “The home is a good size and very energy-efficient. We work with other residents to grow a vegetable garden. I think it’s important that our daughters are learning where food comes from and what it takes to raise it.” “[It] feels more like life did in Nepal, because we are friends with our neighbors and do so much together. We have much more of a sense of community here and it feels safer for the girls, since we know our neighbors well,” Ming adds.

Residents of East Village cook some dinners together in the common area, meet periodically to manage the property, and get together informally in other ways. The values of sustainability and community are also evident in the location—with easy walking and bus access, to reduce car dependence—and the community’s choice to set more apartments at affordable prices than city regulations require. “Living here is sustainable and peaceful,” Pemba concludes. “It feels like family to us.”

As a demonstration of this sustainable mission, the co-housing community, the Champlain Housing Trust and the City of Burlington won the Home Depot Foundation’s 2010 Award for Excellence in Sustainable Community Development, a national award that recognizes the unique implementation of sustainability initiatives in Burlington, as exemplified by East Village Co-housing. Nine of the 32 homes at East Village are in Champlain Housing Trust’s shared equity portfolio, making them permanently affordable, and there are multiple “green” aspects of the development.

I was fascinated by the co-housing concept and thought I’d share this story here. For more information about the East Village Co-housing or to learn what co-housing is all about, click here: www.bcoho.org/index.html. This is a great way to build community!

For more information about Champlain Housing Trust visit their website: www.champlainhousingtrust.org/

Neighborhood Stabilization at 3



Sarah Greenberg
Senior Manager, Community Stabilization
NeighborWorks America

Sitting in a roomful of community development practitioners brought together by the Center for Community Progress, the Greater Ohio Policy Center, and Enterprise Community Partners to create a new toolkit for neighborhood change, I was struck by how a new subset of community development has grown up over the past three years.  Venerable names in community development mixed with young leaders in the field like those on my staff, providing an interesting study on both continuity and change in the field.

We should not underestimate the stimulus effects of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.  The program, a response to the foreclosure crisis, has stimulated new thinking and new leadership in the field.  National intermediaries like NeighborWorks, Enterprise, LISC, and the Housing Partnership Network began as early as 2007 to redeploy existing staff and add new staff to focus on community stabilization and foreclosure response.  I have been privileged to lead these efforts at NeighborWorks America.  These programs grew rapidly, both catalyzing and documenting key trends in the field, including:

• A new national intermediary designed to facilitate the efficient transfer of foreclosed properties to local stabilization efforts through the National First Look Program.
• The growth of a regional or sometimes local intermediary function that can provide the leadership needed to coordinate stabilization efforts - providing real estate development capacity; creating real property data systems; land banking properties for future disposition; branding and marketing distressed communities as places of opportunity; and generating or supplementing end buyer financing products through the creation of new loan pools. 
• Attempts to intervene earlier in the cycle of distress through purchasing delinquent mortgage notes, short sales, and fast-track foreclosure processes for vacant units.
• A return to a more comprehensive, place-based approach to community development that mobilizes residents and stakeholders towards a common goal.

And the field has risen to the challenge.  NeighborWorks alone has trained thousands of practitioners through a new community stabilization curriculum offered through the NeighborWorks Training Institute and online; HUD has trained thousands more in NSP-specific areas with the help of a small army of technical assistance providers, many of whom have been in the field for several decades.

Sunbelt communities that have never dealt with stabilization issues learned from Rust Belt communities that pioneered neighborhood revitalization initiatives.  Communities devastated by the foreclosure crisis learned from the response to other recent crises like Hurricane Katrina and the EF5 tornado that leveled Greensburg, KS.  Old programs were reexamined and lessons gleaned from their execution, such as the Resolution Trust Company, HUD’s Asset Control Area program, and the 203(k) loan program.

More than 9,500 units have already been returned to productive use through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, with programmatic projections in the hundreds of thousands of units.  In the NeighborWorks Network at least 130 local organizations have taken advantage of NSP funding to support their stabilization efforts, many adding staff and capacity in the process.  For all of these reasons I believe that even with all of its challenges, as a field we will ultimately consider NSP a success as a stimulus program.

How will this work continue when NSP funds are gone, especially given recent cuts to essential long-term programs like CDBG and HUD Housing Counseling?  This is but the latest in a series of challenges in community development, and sitting in that room yesterday reflecting on the community of stabilization practitioners that has grown over the past three years, I have faith that we will again join together as an industry to craft creative responses.

Earth Day 2011: Underscoring NeighborWorks America’s Green Commitment

by Michelle Winters,
Senior Manager, Green Strategies,

NeighborWorks America

On this Earth Day 2011, it’s time to step back and look at how far we have come in our green practices. Over the past year, NeighborWorks America has moved forward with a variety of initiatives to support the environmental efforts of the NeighborWorks network and nonprofit housing and community development since Earth Day 2010. Among these is the recent national symposium – Green Choices, Green Value: For the Communities and Families We Serve – where green issues ranging from the health implications of green building, sustainable community planning and organizing efforts, and the benefits of green jobs were discussed and debated. In addition, NeighborWorks America has expanded its offering of green courses – offered both on-line and at the NeighborWorks Training Institutes – providing nonprofit developers and community leaders with up-to-date information on environmentally friendly practices.

Our network organizations are leaders in green building, but their commitment to greening stretches beyond the bricks and mortar to all of their programs and the families that they serve. NeighborWorks America supports incorporating green strategies into all business lines and in the day-to-day operations of the organizations because of the financial, social, and environmental benefits that greening can bring. We believe that green housing and education can help residents thrive in their homes and communities, and that comprehensive green strategies are the best way to deliver these benefits. For more see news release.

Within our organization, we are working hard to reduce our carbon footprint, and in honor of Earth Day our staff have also stepped up and pledged ways they can individually make a difference toward a greener work and home environment. These include everyday things that can have a large impact when taken as a whole, like using reusable mugs and water bottles, recycling, and using public transportation more often. Some are going further with things like composting, bicycling to work, installing rain barrels, and volunteering at local recycling facilities.

A year from now, we anticipate more successes to share with you in the green arena, the kind of changes that reduce our impact in the environment while creating more green jobs and sustainable communities.

Manna, Inc., Holds Groundbreaking for New Affordable Housing in Washington, D.C.

by Erin Angell Collins, Deputy Media Relations Manager, NeighborWorks America



Front Row (L to R): George Rothman,

Oramenta Newsome (Washington DC LISC),

Mayor Vincent Gray, Diana Meyer (Citibank),
Lawanda Prather (future Bexhill homeowner)

Back row (L to R): Jack Gilbert (Community Housing Capital),

District Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. (Ward 5-D), Chris Helmers,

Rev. Jim Dickerson (Manna Founder), Robert Trent (DHCD),

Jacqueline Manning (Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner);



Today Manna, Inc., a member of the NeighborWorks network and Washington, D.C.'s leading developer and builder of for-sale housing for low-income individuals, celebrated the groundbreaking of the Bexhill Townhome Condominiums, part of the District of Columbia's Ivy City Initiative. Upon completion, the Bexhill will feature 20 new townhouse condos, ranging from 2-4 bedrooms and one-and two-levels.

The groundbreaking featured several speakers including The Honorable Vincent Gray, mayor of the District of Columbia; George Rothman, Manna, Inc.; Rev. Jim Dickerson, Manna, Inc., Robert Trent, Department of Housing and Community Development (D.C.); Jack Gilbert, Community Housing Capital, Diana Meyer and Courtney Ward, Citibank/Citi Foundation; Stephen Briggs, Wells Fargo; and Tim Adams, NeighborWorks America, among others.

The Ivy City demonstration project is a redevelopment initiative designed to increase the number of quality affordable housing opportunities for families in Ward 5 of the District of Columbia. As with any Manna project, the Bexhill Condominiums would not have been possible without the support of others. Manna has been fortunate to receive substantial support from financial institutions, including Citi Foundation's Partners in Progress award and Wells Fargo Housing Foundation's Leading the Way Home Priority Markets award. Financing for the Bexhill is being provided by Community Housing Capital, a direct lender to the NeighborWorks network.

Trends from the 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference

by Tom Austin Content Development Manager NeighborWorks America

NTC Keynoter Dan Heath tells nonprofits
"how to change things, when change is hard."
credit: JD Lasica/Socialbrite.org



At the Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC), sponsored by Portland-based NTEN, one is reminded how technology is transforming the nonprofit sector. Held this year in Washington, D.C., the conference attracted more than 2,000 nonprofit staff from the U.S. and around the world, all trying to glean the best ways to put technology to good use in their missions.



Here are seven trends from the conference with an eye on impact on affordable housing and community development nonprofits:

Video is hot. Clearly nonprofits are finding it more challenging to engage folks in their mission just by using explanatory text. Compelling videos that “show” rather than “tell” have a way of cutting through the information overload we all experience. Check out these award winning nonprofit videos.

E-mail marketing is also hot. Can your website visitors subscribe to an e-newsletter where you send them the latest news and events? E-mail marketing is getting more sophisticated by the day, giving nonprofits the ability to customize communications to different audiences and track open and click-through rates.

Google rolls out suite of products for nonprofits. The Google kiosk was packed at NTC and it wasn’t just the free chocolate bars they were giving away. The tech giant used the conference to announce a package of products for nonprofits to improve operations, raise awareness, reach donors, and improve website performance. My favorite is Google’s Fusion Tables, where you can upload a spreadsheet and view as a map or a chart and share with others, even on a webpage. Imagine how useful this might be in illustrating abandoned properties or other neighborhood challenges. http://www.google.com/nonprofits

Release of E-Nonprofit Benchmarks Study. An annual survey on nonprofit use of e-communications was released at the 2011 NTC by M+R and NTEN. The study shows a 14 percent growth in online nonprofit fundraising last year, mainly driven by relief organizations that have overseas operations. If you want to compare your nonprofit’s digital performance with others, this report is a good place to start.

Mobile applications are in. Mobile devices are getting traction in disaster relief fundraising, but there’s also a lot of discussion on what will be the next big thing in mobile. NTC hosted sessions called “Best Practices—Communicating and Fundraising Using the Mobile Device” and “Using Location-Aware Web and Mobile Applications for Activism and Engagement.” This NTEN blog explores this arena.

Net neutrality remains issue for nonprofits. Nonprofits continue to have a stake in high speed Internet access to all who benefit from their programs, including those in remote rural areas. Not a surprise to see that issue on the NTC legislative agenda.

Technology and organizational change. Change is hard for nonprofits, as NTC keynote speaker Dan Heath, author of Switch, pointed out. Change is sparked by evoking emotion, not just information, he said and demonstrated by showing some compelling nonprofit video clips.

The next NTC is in San Francisco in April 2012. But the sponsor, NTEN, has fantastic web-based resources year-round. I highly recommend membership in this organization for nonprofits working in the affordable housing and community development field.