Six years ago, Elizabeth Alonzo-Villarreal was in the NeighborWorks Achieving Excellence Program, thinking about a potential capstone project that would take her organization, NeighborWorks Laredo, to the next level. The program, which NeighborWorks® America hosts in cooperation with Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Business, provides classes, coaching and mentorship for leaders like Alonzo-Villarreal, who serves as CEO. She had her answer. “We wanted to become a CDFI,” she said.