Print pageWe’ve been mindful about including expert instruction and peer learning in the NeighborWorks Training Institute. But networking informally with colleagues, and focusing on personal growth, is also important and having a relaxed and positive mindset will help facilitate your learning all around! Check out the fun and impactful activities and power sessions we’ve built into the time slots around course offerings. Be sure to add these activities to your schedule as time permits. We will be adding new activities, so check back regularly to the event platform site to sign up.
Welcome to the Event! Badge pick-up and Meet our Team
Sun. Aug. 9, 3-6 p.m.
Join us for a smooth and welcoming event check-in experience by picking up your name badge early, mingling with other early arrivals, and learn about NeighborWorks Professional Learning offerings by meeting our curriculum and online learning instructional team. First time at the NTI? Be sure to stop by our information tables, introduce yourself, and pick up a special first-timers gift.
Want to personalize your event name badge? Stop by the badge decoration station
Miami Beach NTI Welcome Lunch
Mon. Aug. 10, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
An opportunity to come together with colleagues from throughout the country, network, and enjoy lunch.
Walking Challenge
Monday activities: Aug. 10
Monday - Thursday, self-led
The NTI walking challenge is a friendly 3-day competition that involves tracking steps taken during the NTI for prizes and bragging rights. Participants use a personal fitness tracker (e.g., Fitbit or a smartwatch) and/or a free downloadable app, such as Fitbit or Map My Walk, to track their steps each day during the event. Earn additional points by participating in the daily discussion board challenges or other event engagement activities at the NTI. To report steps, participants will send a picture of their step tracker to the designated email address by the end of each day or no later than 9:00 a.m. the following morning. Rankings for daily challenges and accumulated steps will be shared by noon each day, with an overall winner announced on Thursday. Prizes will be distributed onsite or mailed to the winner.
Participants MUST pre-register for this activity to receive rules and regulations prior to the start of the event.
Activity will be limited to the first 25 registered (non-staff) participants.
Power Session: One Project, Many Benefits: Community Data Collection Can Inform Your Program Strategy, Build Partnerships, Engage Residents, and Strengthen Your Impact Story and Fundraising
Tuesday, Aug. 11, 7:15-8 a.m.
How can collecting primary data directly from residents and assessing conditions in your community pay off for your organization? NeighborWorks' 12+ years of experience with the Community Impact Measurement (CIM) project reveals the many different benefits gained by local organizations. CIM is a project of NeighborWorks America conducted through its Success Measures program to support systematic primary-data collection by local organizations through resident surveys and structured observations of conditions in a community, repeating the cycle every 3 years.
Participants in this session will explore how engaging in a project like CIM can help your organization:
- Better understand community priorities
- Actively engage community residents
- Gain grounded insight to refine program strategies
- Build and deepen partnerships
- Provide evidence to strengthen impact storytelling
- Make a more compelling case for funding
- Focus on impact in the community
Participants will have the opportunity to learn about the CIM project overall, key findings over time, and hear examples from multiple organizations about their experiences, challenges, and benefits of engaging in community impact measurement.
Presenter: Brooke Finn, Senior Vice President, Evaluation, Leadership & Peer Learning
Keys to Impact: A Fireside Chat with HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling David Berenbaum
Tuesday, Aug. 11, 12-1 p.m.
Join HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling David Berenbaum for an energizing and interactive fireside chat designed exclusively for the NeighborWorks housing counseling community. This session offers a candid, conversational look at the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of housing counseling - from modernization and data driven service delivery to strengthening partnerships, expanding homeownership pathways, and elevating the counselor's role in today's housing landscape. Participants will have the chance to ask questions, share insights from the field, and engage directly in a dialogue about how HUD and its partners can work together to drive meaningful, measurable impact for the households and communities we serve. Whether you're focused on rental stability, financial capability, disaster recovery, or homeownership, this session will provide practical takeaways, national context, and a collaborative space to help shape what comes next. Come ready to connect, contribute, and explore the keys to impact in housing counseling today.
Presenter: David Berenbaum, HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling
Neighborhood Evening Tour
Tuesday, August 11, 5-8:30 p.m.
Miami’s story isn’t just found in its skyline. It lives in the neighborhoods, businesses, traditions, and people that gave the city its character.
This curated tour explores two of Miami’s most culturally significant communities: Historic Overtown and Little Havana. Guests will discover how these communities built businesses, created gathering places, established cultural institutions, and left an unmistakable imprint on Miami’s identity.
But these neighborhoods aren’t frozen in time. As Miami continues to grow, we’ll explore how each community is balancing its cultural legacy with new investment and development, and how local leaders, businesses, and organizations are helping shape what comes next. This event is limited to 48 participants and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. If you register but do not arrive, your spot may be given to someone on the waitlist.
Wynwood Walls
Tuesday, August 11, 6-7:30 p.m.
Private Guided Tour
Step into the world's most celebrated outdoor street art museum with a private guided tour led by one of our accredited education team members. The group will enjoy an immersive 40-minute journey through Wynwood Walls, exploring iconic murals from some of the most recognized artists in the world while learning about the history, culture, and evolution of Wynwood as a global art destination. This is an intimate, storytelling-driven experience tailored specifically to your group.
Spray Paint Freestyle
Get hands-on with one of the most iconic art forms in Wynwood! Led by a member of our education team, this 30-minute interactive session introduces guests to the basics of spray paint, including can control, techniques, and creative expression. All protective gear is provided, including ponchos and gloves, so guests can dive in without worry. It's a fun, energetic, and memorable experience that brings out the artist in everyone. This event is limited to 25 participants and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. If you register but do not arrive, your spot may be given to someone on the waitlist.
What's Working, What's Missing, What's Next: A Learner Listening Session
Wednesday, Aug. 12, 7:30 - 8:15 a.m.
Join this interactive listening session to share your experiences with NeighborWorks courses, what's working well, where you've faced challenges, and what opportunities you see for improvement. Your insights will help shape future training so it better reflects real‑world needs, supports your work, and strengthens impact across the network.
Unlocking NeighborWorks Compass
Wednesday, Aug. 12, 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
Explore an in-depth look at a NeighborWorks Compass feature and build the skills you need to become a Super User.
Workshop: Lessons, Partnerships and Next Steps from Florida’s Heir’s Property Learning Exchange
Wednesday, Aug. 12, 4:30 p.m.
Join members of the Florida Heirs’ Property Learning Exchange as they share the story of building a statewide ecosystem to help families preserve generational wealth and protect family-owned homes and land. This interactive session will explore who came together, what was built through cross-sector collaboration, and the lessons, partnerships, and outcomes that emerged along the way. Participants will gain insights into how housing, legal, community, research, and data partners created a coordinated approach to heirs’ property challenges and what’s next as the effort expands across Florida.
Presenter: Jaime-Lee Bradshaw
Power Session: Weaving Networks: Visualizing and Creating the Connections for Collaboration
Thursday, Aug. 13, 7:15-8 a.m.
The Weaving Networks Power Session will be an introduction to network mapping and weaving. Participants will learn key aspects of network theory for collaboration, enabling teams and partners to coordinate action on shared goals most effectively. The session's interaction includes real-time mapping of their own networks, including those in the room. By the end of the session, participants will have learned about network evolution and how to begin mapping the networks that influence change within their work and community.
Presenter: Santiago Bunce, Founder and CEO of Viabosque Group
NeighborWorks Compass Connections: Peer Exchange
Thursday, Aug. 13, 11:45-12:45 p.m.
Join us for an interactive engagement activity for NeighborWorks Compass customers who are ready to connect with peers. Designed around shared interests, guided activities, and collaborative conversation, this session goes beyond traditional networking to foster meaningful relationships. Participants will exchange ideas, compare approaches, and co-create efficient best practices—building a peer network they can lean on long after NTI.
Workshop: Ready and Resilient: What Every Organization Needs to Stay Standing
Thursday, Aug. 13, 12 p.m.
Ocean Drive Ballroom A, Level 1, Miami Beach Convention Center
This session helps housing and community development organizations move from reactive crisis response to proactive organizational readiness. Grounded in what the NeighborWorks Florida Collaborative has learned and built, the workshop takes an all-hazards approach, covering natural disasters, manmade emergencies, technological disruptions, and pandemics/endemics, while centering continuity of mission, community trust, coordinated response, and practical readiness tools. The NTI concept itself was framed as an organizational disaster readiness workshop that should take a broad view of disasters, including data, financial, and structural losses—not solely hurricanes.
Presenter: Jaime-Lee Bradshaw
