This week, NeighborWorks America welcomed more than 1,200 community development practitioners from across the country to the NeighborWorks Training Institute, the premier professional learning event for community development and affordable housing professionals in the country. The event was held in Philadelphia, known as the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection. 

The following is a transcript of Episode 5 of The Community Effect Podcast.

Listen here: https://thecommunityeffect-nw.podbean.com/e/episode-5-the-future-now-forecasting-strategies-for-community-building-and-affordable-housing-in-2025-and-beyond-part-1/

Last month, I had the chance to join NeighborWorks America staff and network members for the NeighborWorks Rural Revitalization Clinic in Millersburg, Kentucky. Hosted by Community Ventures Corporation (CVC), a NeighborWorks network organization with a mission to strengthen communities by helping people achieve their dreams of greater economic opportunity, the four-day event centered on comprehensive community development (CCD) — a strategy that focuses on people, places and systems to create lasting, community-driven change.

It’s a brand new year and NeighborWorks America is moving forward with plans and strategies for the months ahead, including a new, three-year strategic plan. Today, we hear from some of NeighborWorks America’s leaders as they look forward to what 2025 has in store.

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.

While the world was in the global COVID crisis together, individual struggles varied widely, especially among those struggling to stay in their homes. “Maybe they lost their job during the pandemic because the organization they were working for shut down and they didn't have the type of job that allowed them to go virtual,” shares Tonya Tyler, vice president for national initiatives operations at NeighborWorks America.