At the 2008 National NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute in San Jose, NHS of Greater Berks in Reading, PA, developed an action plan to dedicate a mural for peace in their community. The mural was a direct response to several tragic violent events in the neighborhood and was a way for the residents to come together around positive action and demonstrate the community’s strengths. The mural spans six sections on a corner of an old, nearly vacant factory building and is located at a very busy intersection in the neighborhood where it is highly visible. 

Homes in Swillburg, the first neighborhood engaged in NeighborWorks® Rochester's (Rochester, N.Y.) Healthy Blocks Neighborhood Initiative, appear to be defying the city's market trends, with home prices rising and days on the market declining. The evidence that Healthy Blocks made a difference persuaded the Realtors Charitable Foundation to make a two-year, $30,000 annual commitment to expand the effort into a third neighborhood.

Chelsea Neighborhood Developers' (Chelsea, Mass.) Community Enhancement Team (CET) built city-wide partnerships to reduce neighborhood graffiti. When the CET started its anti-graffiti campaign, many different city services and nonprofit groups were addressing the issue, but lacked coordination.

The CET rallied local nonprofit organizations, businesses and city government to create one unified front. Due in part to CET's work, the City Council's subcommittee meetings on graffiti drew a great turnout from community organizations and residents, and ultimately resulted in much stricter city ordinances on graffiti.

Graffiti incidences have declined to below 20 from a high of over 100 properties sited, and residents have proudly reclaimed their neighborhood.