As NeighborWorks America wraps up an impactful year – during which the national nonprofit celebrated its 45th anniversary of creating and preserving affordable housing and strengthening communities – staff members look back on the moments that instilled them with the most pride.
“In 2024, what gave me the most pride was witnessing the changes within our Training Division as we built a culture of learning. This ongoing journey, grounded in trust, distributed leadership and a safe environment for creativity, has empowered our team to take initiative and embrace new tools and methods. A particularly proud moment was during the NeighborWorks Training Institute when a long-time faculty member remarked, ‘The Training Team seems happier!’ Yes, people are happier when they get better at doing what they care about. That's what our team is doing, together!”
– Hui Min, Vice President, Training
“I was standing in a circle surrounded by NeighborWorks network organizations, their tribal partners and other like-minded organizations nestled in the Valley of the Sugarloaf mountain in Maine. This was the homelands of the Penobscot Nation, and we were listening to the words of their culture bearer John Bear Mitchell. He shared words from the ancestors telling us to share our stories and that our stories matter. Like everyone in that circle, we all felt part of same cause: To increase our impact in providing housing opportunities in Native communities. That feeling was strong, and I often go back to that time to reinvigorate my passion and to remember why I do this work.”
– Mel Willie, Director, Native American Partnerships and Strategies
"I'm most proud of my team and the incredible amount of work they produced this year that made measurable impact to the communities and organizations we serve. Every one of the divisions made their mark on the year from:
- Increasing attendance, satisfaction, and revenue from our Training Institutes to,
- Assessing, recommending, and affiliating five soon-to-be-announced new organizations from Field and OAD to,
- Moving the conversation, action and dollars in support of sustainability and resilience by National Initiatives to,
- Bringing increased participation, recognition, openness, and real-time useful tools to the Culture + Belonging community to,
- Delivering through ELP one of the largest executive symposiums, community leadership institutes and excellence in governance seminars to
Growing the roster of clients and business with existing clients through Success Measures to having a vice president of operations pull it all together, supporting every Chief Operating Officer division, special project, and leading the 2025 All-Staff Meeting team."
– Susan M. Ifill, Chief Operating Officer
“I cannot speak for the entire Corporate Strategy and Impact team, but specifically for Business Intelligence, I am most proud of what I could call 'next level, anticipatory' strategies. NeighborWorks America’s consistently-collected quarterly data effectively helps communicate NeighborWorks’ impact in communities across the country. But over the last few years, the Business Intelligence team has focused on emerging issues and how we can effectively collect and present data to tell the story of need. In 2024, the team focused on emerging issues such as the increasing cost and decreasing availability of rental property insurance. We collaborated with the NeighborWorks network to construct a thorough but not burdensome survey instrument on this nascent topic, and we were able to use the gathered information to advance awareness and conversations with partners. This is a prime example of the value of the NeighborWorks model: Raising issues seen at the local level, coordinating with the best organizations to determine the depth and prevalence of issues, and then gathering information to elevate the story most effectively.
– Michael Butchko, Vice President, Business Intelligence
"On the programs/accomplishments front, what gave me the most pride was getting a chance to showcase the comprehensive community development work of our network through 10 case studies featuring organizations across the country. The resident-centered, place-based approach of comprehensive community development is so central to what NeighborWorks is and how we operate. And, it’s always great to get to know the people and organizations in our network more deeply and learn more about the impact they are having in their communities.
"On the organizational front, as someone who is still relatively new to NeighborWorks, I’m continuing to learn and find connections across the organization. So our work to enhance collaboration and communication has been really meaningful. I’ve seen that in things like conversations about culture and belonging, the organizational culture work that is happening, and in my division of National Initiatives, the work we are doing to create shared spaces for learning, such as the Peer Learning Community of Practice."
– Elizabeth Druback Caleya, Director, Community Initiatives
"In 2024, we were able to partner with Forecast Public Art to create a toolkit 
for teams attending NeighborWorks America’s Community Leadership Institute (CLI). Resident teams who participate in the CLI start off with different levels of relationships and trust as well as with different skills. The toolkit, available in English and Spanish, is an adaptable on the go resource for CLI teams to use throughout the year to deepen their relationships, build trust, stay engaged, and develop new skills and abilities. The toolkit is divided into four key areas: Relationship Building, Skill Building, Project Planning, and Artist Involvement. Within each of these sections there are activities with facilitation notes as well as worksheets to help with everything from identifying a community project, to communicating with stakeholders, collecting data and working with artists. Teams were introduced to the toolkit at the CLI and NeighborWorks will continue to provide ongoing support to team leads throughout 2025 as the teams work on implementing their grant projects."
– Sarah Parmenter, Director, Community Building & Engagement
"How fulfilling to witness and support NeighborWorks’ 45th year of providing opportunities for people to live in affordable homes and improve their lives and communities! Our anniversary was a powerful testament to Dorothy Mae Richardson’s vision, an approach we’ve continued to follow and adapt based on our ever-changing community needs."
– Valerie Navy-Daniels, Senior Vice President, Resource Development
"In 2024, I am most proud of NeighborWorks America's deployment of investments necessary to attract additional funding to create thousands of affordable rental and home ownership opportunities throughout the nation."
– Dr. Christie Cade, Regional Vice President, Southern Region
