Supported by a $750,000 grant from The Home Depot Foundation, the goal of the initiative is to decrease the environmental impact of the NeighborWorks America headquarters and support its nationwide network of community development organizations in bringing “green” tools, building techniques and healthy environmental impact to urban, suburban and rural communities.

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NeighborWorks America, along with its network of more than 230 local housing nonprofit organizations, is concerned about the thousands of homes that may be left vacant due to the ongoing foreclosure crisis. As a result, NeighborWorks America is working with other leading national nonprofit organizations and local partners to develop a multi-faceted plan, including a national partnership structure that could negotiate the discounted acquisition of real estate owned (REO) properties for the benefit of local communities. Top neighborhood stabilization strategies under development include a national entity created by nonprofit organizations to facilitate the disposition of REO properties. Pilot projects are also underway in local communities to rehabilitate abandoned properties into affordable homes or quality rental units.

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NeighborWorks America, the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and the Housing Partnership Network will each receive $500,000 Wells Fargo grants. The organizations, leaders in a variety of homeownership and foreclosure prevention campaigns, including the HOPE NOW Alliance, will distribute the money to local nonprofit housing agencies that are working every day with homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. Learn more.

NeighborWorks America submitted its FY 2009 Budget Justification to Congress on February 4. It requests a federal appropriation of $150 million for FY 2009 (the fiscal year starting October 1, 2008). This amount reflects:

• A base budget of $125 million (which would be a 4 percent increase over the FY 2008 base budget) to continue to provide the highest caliber financial and programmatic support to NeighborWorks organizations and the broader community development field in an increasingly challenging environment; and
  
  
• An additional $25 million to allow NeighborWorks America to continue to administer a mortgage foreclosure mitigation program providing grants to housing counseling intermediaries, state housing finance agencies and local NeighborWorks organizations to address the nation's foreclosure crisis.

Learn more.

In late January, Southern District Director Don Phoenix was publicly recognized on the floor of the Georgia State Senate, along with our new partner, the National Baptist Convention of America. The Senate passed Resolution 757, to recognize and commend NeighborWorks America, The D&E Group, HUD, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and others who are working together to host free seminars designed to reach at-risk home buyers and inform them of available resources. 

The resolution was the result of a series of foreclosure workshops that the Southern District, The D&E Group and partners organized during the month of January under the theme “Keep Your Dream Alive — Preserve Homeownership.” These free consumer events attracted more than 1,000 at-risk homeowners who were able to speak with counselors from the NeighborWorks network, local housing agencies and loss mitigation representatives from Washington Mutual, Litton Loan Servicing and others.

The Foundation supports nonprofits nationwide that aid the victims of domestic violence. Its shelter grant program provides $3 million annually for the operating budget of shelters, with the exception of travel. The grant range is $20,000 per shelter. Application [PDF]

Registration is now open for the NeighborWorks Training Institute in Cincinnati. View our complete online course grid of over 80 classes for details. Don’t miss the symposium on May 7. This important symposium, Weathering the Storm: Stabilizing Communities in the Wake of Foreclosure, is a must attend for counselors, developers, community leaders and more. Participants will discuss possible solutions to the current homeownership landscape and explore the effects it will have on future generations of homebuyers. Learn more or register for the NeighborWorks Training Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, at www.nw.org/training.

NeighborWorks America recognizes the critical role professional homeownership educators and counselors play in stemming the foreclosure crisis. Throughout 2008, the NeighborWorks Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling (NCHEC) will significantly increase the amount of time-sensitive training to counselors on the front line — at NeighborWorks Training Institutes and locally, in cities across the country. Course topics target the needs of all counselors, from fundamental classes such as Foreclosure Basics and Introduction to Housing Counseling to Advanced Foreclosure: Case Study Practicum and Advanced Residential Lending. Practitioners can even be certified through the
five-day Foreclosure Intervention and Default Counseling Certification, Part I course. A limited number of tuition scholarships and lodging stipends are available to attend this unparalleled training. To stay in the loop about upcoming training sessions, be sure to bookmark and visit often the Foreclosure Counseling Training Page.

In 2008, the NeighborWorks Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling (NCHEC) has a new scholarship opportunity for practitioners to take advantage of valuable homeownership training. The National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Training Program is open to all 501(c)(3) organizations and provides fully-paid training and lodging scholarships to attend essential foreclosure-related courses sponsored by NCHEC.  Now, along with the NCHEC/HUD training program, there are even more opportunities to apply for scholarships to attend training through the NeighborWorks Training Institute and place-based training events. To learn more about the NFMC Training Program and view a schedule of upcoming dates and locations along with program eligibility requirements, visit NCHEC at www.nw.org/nchec.

NeighborWorks America is pleased to collaborate with Danya International, Inc. and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to offer a new and exciting community development program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The HBCU Affordable Housing Finance Certification Program seeks to help selected participants gain the skills and experience necessary to develop and successfully manage sustainable housing and economic development projects for the HBCU and its community development corporation (CDC) partner.  Learn more.