NeighborWorks America

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NeighborWorks America
Company type Nonprofit - Congressionally Chartered
Industry Affordable Housing and Community Development
Founded1978
Headquarters
Washington, DC
,
US
Key people
  • Marietta Rodriguez, president & CEO [1]
  • Susan M. Ifill, executive vice president & chief operating officer
  • Kemba Esmond, executive vice president & chief financial officer
  • Arturo Weldon, executive vice president & chief information officer
Products
  • NeighborWorks Compass
  • CounselorMax
  • Organizational Assessment Services
  • Success Measures
  • Training
  • Achieving Excellence Program
US $312,437,291 (FY 2015)
Website www.neighborworks.org

The Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, also known as Neighbor Works America, is a congressionally chartered non-profit organization that supports community development in the United States Of America. The organization provides grants and technical assistance to more than 240 community development organizations. NeighborWorks America provides training for housing and community development professionals through its national training institutes. [2] Since 2007, NeighborWorks America has administered the congressionally created National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program [3] ; a program launched in December 2007 by increasing housing counseling for families at risk of foreclosure. [4]

Contents

The NeighborWorks network is made up of more than 240 community development organizations working in urban, suburban, and rural communities across the country. [5]

[6] The Neighborhood Reinvestment Board of Directors consists of the Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, a member of the Chief Counsel Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Vice Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and a member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration.

History

The early origins of the non-profit Neighbor works America are traced to 1968, when Dorothy Mae Richardson, a Central North Side resident of Pittsburgh, advocated for the rehabilitation of dilapidated homes. [7] [8] [9] [10] Dorothy Mae Richardson worked with city bankers and government officials to convince 16 financial institutions to give out conventional loans in the community. [11] Her legacy was cemented in the Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of Pittsburgh. [12] Eventually, the NHS became the inspiration for community-based housing initiatives throughout the country. [13] [14] [15] In 1970, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board became involved with NHS and started expanding the program by training savings and loan officers for urban areas nationally. [16]

In 1978, Congress chartered the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, with a mission to recreate the NHS housing program throughout the nation's. [17]

In 1984, the first Neighborhood Housing Week [18] (now called Neighbor Works Week) was congressionally established. President Ronald Reagan proclaimed a national observance.

During the 1980s, the Ad Council worked with Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (NRC) and created "NeighborWorks".

The NRC began doing business as NeighborWorks America in 2005. [19]

In 2007, Congress selected Neighbor Works America to administer the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program. Continuing in efforts to assist in recovery from the housing crisis, in 2009, NeighborWorks launched the Loan Modification Scam Alert campaign and Stable Communities Initiative. In June 2011, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development partnered with NeighborWorks America to launch the Emergency Homeowners' Loan Program to assist homeowners across the country at risk of foreclosure. [20]

There are now more than 240 Neighbor Works organizations operating in urban, suburban, and rural communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. In the past five years, Neighbor Works organizations have generated more than $19.5 billion in reinvestment in these communities. Neighbor Works America has assisted more than 1.7 million homeowners through its congressionally funded National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program. [20]

Community leaders

In honor of its namesake, NeighborWorks America nationally offers the Dorothy Richardson Award for Resident Leadership. [21]

Dorothy Richardson continued to live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as an active community member and supervisor of the Pittsburgh Housing Clinic until her death on April 28, 1991, at Allegheny General Hospital. She lived to 68.

Leaders in NeighborWorks

  1. Bill Whiteside, the first executive director of Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation from 1978 to 1990
  2. George Knight, executive director from 1990 to 2000, [22] Inducted into the Affordable Housing Hall of Fame [22]
  3. Ellen Lazar, executive director from 2000 to 2003
  4. Kenneth Wade, CEO from 2004 to 2011
  5. Eileen Fitzgerald, CEO from 2011 to 2014
  6. Paul Weech, CEO from 2014 to 2017
  7. Marietta Rodriguez, president and CEO from 2018 to present

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Officers - NeighborWorks America". Neighborworks.org. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Training and Professional Development - NeighborWorks America". Neighborworks.org. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Driving impact by equipping changemakers with evidence and solutions. | Urban Institute". www.urban.org. December 4, 2025. Retrieved December 11, 2025.
  4. ↑ "Homes & Finances - NeighborWorks America". Neighborworks.org. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Our Network". NeighborWorks America. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Board Members | NeighborWorks America". www.neighborworks.org. Retrieved November 29, 2025.
  7. ↑ Roger Stuart (February 1967). "Our Housing Crisis:CASH carries the ball in War". Article. The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  8. ↑ "RightsGroup in Blast at Rosenbloom". Article. November 1967. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  9. ↑ "2 Blacks Added to Housing Authority Board". Article. November 1968. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Housing Group Reelects Officers". Article. October 1974. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  11. ↑ Squires, Gregory (1992). Redlining To Reinvestment (Conflicts in Urban and Regional Development). Temple University Press. pp.  288. ISBN   0877229856.
  12. ↑ "2 advocates of better housing are outlived by efforts". Article. June 1991. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Dorothy Richardson". Article. June 1991. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  14. ↑ "City Woman's Volunteer Work honored with National Award". Article. November 1997. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  15. ↑ James Erickson, David (2009). The Housing Policy Revolution: Networks and Neighborhoods. The Urban Institute Press. p. 260. ISBN   978-0877667605.
  16. ↑ "Philadelphia City Planning Commission Report" . Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  17. ↑ "FDIC Law, Regulations, Related Acts" . Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  18. ↑ Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley. "National Neighborhood Housing Services Week" . Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation". September 20, 2017. Archived from the original on October 23, 2011.
  20. 1 2 "Our History - NeighborWorks America". Neighborworks.org. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Dorothy Richardson Award for Resident Leadership" . Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  22. 1 2 "Five Who Have Shaped the Industry". Affordable Housing Finance. October 2009. Archived from the original on October 1, 2011. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
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