Olivia Gomez grew up in Planada, a small community of about 4,000 people in California’s Central Valley. Her parents picked tomatoes, peaches and figs, and she lived first in a camp for farm workers. When Self-Help Enterprises, a NeighborWorks network organization in Visalia, opened Bear Creek Housing for farm workers, she and her family moved there. Four years later, she remembers helping her parents as they built a home of their own, also through a Self-Help program.

As longtime community development leaders begin to retire, a new generation must carry the wave forward.

Leadership can make the difference between an organization that thrives and one that struggles. In the community development field, that leadership is important at every level – from neighborhood resident leaders to the organizational leaders who strengthen those neighborhoods.

At NeighborWorks® America, we believe that strong communities start with strong leaders. Not leadership in theory, but leadership in practice. The kind that shows up in neighborhoods, in housing developments and in the day-to-day decisions that shape people’s lives.

Every two years, 50 new nonprofit leaders enter the NeighborWorks Achieving Excellence Program. A collaboration between NeighborWorks America and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, the program brings together senior leaders of community-serving organizations to address challenges – and find solutions. The program includes thought-provoking content, executive coaching and structured peer group work.