Washington, D.C. – NeighborWorks® America announced today housing and lending activities by its nationwide network of nonprofit community development organizations resulted in $2.32 billion of total investment into the creation and preservation of affordable homeownership and rental housing. Federal investment in NeighborWorks America is an efficient and effective way to deliver affordable housing dollars, with every dollar of federal appropriation multiplied 71 times on behalf of individuals and families across America. 

National Homeownership Month celebrates the importance of homeownership in the United States. NeighborWorks America, along with the NeighborWorks network, celebrates homeownership year round  and centers housing counseling as a way to help people decide if homeownership is right for them and, if it is, to help them down that path. 

Ashley Hagen and her husband raise cattle and small crops on a farm they purchased through a “contract for deed" in rural South Dakota. Their land included a small home, where they lived with their three sons. “We kept plastic on the windows and even then, you could feel the breeze,” Hagen says. “The foundation was crumbling.”

Marietta Rodriguez presented this speech at the 2024 National Interagency Community Reinvestment on March 7 as part of a session entitled “A New Landscape for Community Impact.” 

Imagine a neighborhood. ANY neighborhood. A neighborhood that you live in, a neighborhood that you grew up in or a neighborhood you've visited.