A Native strategy. An aspirational training plan. Listening to the network and finding the programs that will help the most. With the start of a new year, NeighborWorks leaders look at some of the plans and goals in store. 

NeighborWorks' commitment to Native communities 

Mel Willie, NeighborWorks America's director of Native American Partnerships & Strategy, says that in 2023, the national nonprofit focused on developing a five-year Native strategy. "Now we're focused on launching it."  

More than 300 people gathered at the NeighborWorks Training Institute this month for "It Takes a Village: Achieving Black Wealth and Economic Prosperity," part of a symposia series with a focus on advancing equity for people of color.

In mid-May, demolition began on the Umeya Rice Cake Factory, known for making sweet Japanese rice crackers in California's Little Tokyo. The family-owned business has been a mainstay in Los Angeles – interrupted when President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which placed Japanese families like the Hamano family in internment camps during World War II.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu featured NeighborWorks America's President & CEO Marietta Rodriguez on a podcast this week. The podcast, released during National Financial Capability Month, highlights the importance of financial health. The goal of discussions like these, Hsu says, is to "improve outcomies for communities and consumers."

In summer of 2022, when NeighborWorks America established a grant to support NeighborWorks network organizations with wealth-building programs for Black and Latino clients, there was one big change: The application was available in Spanish. Not only that, but network organizations were able, if they chose, to submit their grant application in Spanish and have it reviewed by a native speaker.

The work of NeighborWorks America started with visionary leaders who set out to pave a new path forward against redlining, disinvestment, and marginalization of people and communities.

The work of NeighborWorks America started with visionary leaders who set out to pave a new path forward against redlining, disinvestment, and marginalization of people and communities.

"Every community can be a place of opportunity," shares Steve Barbier, senior relationship manager for the Western Region at NeighborWorks America. The tenet underscores NeighborWorks' decision several years ago to better understand how to be of service to Native communities.