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Successful candidates must invest significant time and effort toward achieving their organizational challenge over the 16 months of the program.
The time commitment includes real work by you and others in your organization against your identified challenge. You must commit to making your challenge one of the top priorities for your organization. Expect to put your challenge in your operating and strategic plan, to commit to your staff, your Board and possibly others that you and your organization will take on the challenge and achieve significant outcomes. You should also expect to work on your challenge regularly through conference calls, online chats, and one-on-one conversations with your coach and your peer group.
Many participants spend 60-70% of their time working to address their organizational performance challenge but that is because it is one of the most critical issues on their to-do list right now—something critical that deserves their attention. The NeighborWorks Achieving Excellence Program gives the time, the tools and the forum to focus intensely on one of the most important issues facing your organization.
Key Dates of the 13th Cohort of the NeighborWorks Achieving Excellence Program
Application dates and deadlines
Information session #1
Date: September 2, 2026
Time: 3 p.m. Eastern
Location: Online—Click here to register for info session 1
Information session #2
Date: October 1, 2026
12 p.m. Eastern
Location: Click here to register for info session 2
Office hours
No registration or appointment needed—just “stop by with any questions—
no appoint
Date: Tuesday, October 6
1 p.m. Eastern
Location: Click here to enter directly to the office hours Zoom
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Date: October 8, 2026
11:59 p.m. Eastern
Location: Click here for application
Notifications
We will notify all applicants of our decisions on or before December 11, 2026 & offer a chance for a debrief
Date: December 11, 2026
Location: Via email
Acceptance Forms due from applicants invited to AE13; otherwise, we move to the wait list
Date: January 11, 2027
Location: Via email
PROGRAM DATES & DEADLINES (must be able to attend all)
Intro & Orientation, Part 1
Date: February 3, 2027
2-4:30 p.m. Eastern
Location: Online
Intro & Orientation, Part 2
Date: February 10, 2027
2-4:30 p.m. Eastern
Location: Online
Tuition Payment 1 (~75%)
Friday, February 12, 2027
Harvard Module 1
Date: February 21 (travel day) – February 26, 2027 (end in early afternoon)
Location: Harvard Kennedy School—Cambridge, Massachusetts
1st Peer Group Meeting (Peer Group Meeting A)
Date: ~2 days between April 5 – 23, 2027—The exact dates & location will be agreed upon by you with your peer group & coach
Location: At the site of one of the peer group members
Summer Peer Group Meetings (Peer Group Meeting B)
Date: June 15-17, 2027
Location: NeighborWorks America HQ office—Washington, DC
Tuition Payment 2 (~25%)
Date: September 20 or October 2027 (TBD) -
Harvard Virtual Module 2
Date: September 26 (travel day) – October 1, 2027 (end in early afternoon)
Location: Online
Winter Peer Group Meetings (Peer Group Meeting C)
Date: ~2 days between January 3-21, 2028—The exact dates & location will be agreed upon by you with your peer group & coach
Location: At the site of one of the peer group members
Online Harvard session (tentative)
Date: ½ day during the week of February 7, 2028
Location: Online
Harvard Module 3
Date: February 27 (travel day) – March 3, 2028 (end in early afternoon)
Location: Harvard Kennedy School—Cambridge, Massachusetts
Final Peer Group meetings (Peer Group Meeting D)
Date: ~2 days between April 24 – May 12, 2028—The exact dates & location will be agreed upon by you with your peer group & coach
Location: At the site of one of the peer group members
Contact [email protected] with any questions about the program or these dates
