Last month, I had the chance to join NeighborWorks America staff and network members for the NeighborWorks Rural Revitalization Clinic in Millersburg, Kentucky. Hosted by Community Ventures Corporation (CVC), a NeighborWorks network organization with a mission to strengthen communities by helping people achieve their dreams of greater economic opportunity, the four-day event centered on comprehensive community development (CCD) — a strategy that focuses on people, places and systems to create lasting, community-driven change.

It’s a brand new year and NeighborWorks America is moving forward with plans and strategies for the months ahead, including a new, three-year strategic plan. Today, we hear from some of NeighborWorks America’s leaders as they look forward to what 2025 has in store.

One by one, the women looked out over an audience of resident leaders who, like themselves, have impacted and strengthened their communities. The women, recipients of NeighborWorks America’s 2024 Dorothy Richardson Award for Resident Leadership, have made their communities safer and more beautiful, have fought for health and equity, and have helped rebuild after a devastating wildfire. Richardson is known for creating the model upon which NeighborWorks was based when she and her neighbors gathered bankers, government officials and other partners to fight neglect and disinvestment due to redlining in their Northside Pittsburgh neighborhood in the 1960s. NeighborWorks presented the awards named for the leader earlier this month during an inspirational ceremony in Baltimore. Throughout the evening, the honorees shared their hopes, their wisdom and their calls to action.
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