Print pageBefore she began working as deputy director of Lakota Funds, Ellen White Thunder had built a background in construction. She was certified as a residential building inspector. She was a certified pipelayer. She had her certification in plumbing inspection.
“I love everything about construction,” she explains. And she knew that knowledge in construction would be needed on Pine Ridge and other reservations in South Dakota, where there was not just a shortage of homes, but a shortage of the people who could build them and make sure they were safe.
Housing counselors often see people at the best of times – on the verge of fulfilling a dream – but also see people at their most vulnerable times and everywhere in between.
“It’s taxing work,” says Ann DiPetta, who has worked in the affordable housing and community development field for over 20 years. “It’s demanding. It can be emotionally difficult. And it’s important to take care of yourself so you don’t burn out.”
This week, NeighborWorks America welcomed more than 1,200 community development practitioners from across the country to the NeighborWorks Training Institute, the premier professional learning event for community development and affordable housing professionals in the country. The event was held in Philadelphia, known as the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection.
Summary: Leslie Radcliffe understands leadership as service. And she’s committed to serving her neighbors and community. Learn more about this resident leader and why NeighborWorks America will honor her with the Dorothy Richardson Award for Resident Leadership.
As nonprofits must adapt to the changing landscape of resident and community needs to do more, NeighborWorks America ensures its training, learning and networking opportunities are available to take the affordable housing and community development industry to the next level.
NeighborWorks America helps organizations focus on the prize: Unprecedented funding for sustainability.
A group of students studying social work joined NeighborWorks America’s symposium “45 & Forward: Readying Our Field for the Future.”
With unprecedented federal funding available for new sustainable energy projects, NeighborWorks America wants to make sure that nonprofit affordable housing and community development practitioners remain on the leading edge. That means offering training courses that will give affordable developers the foundation they need to foster safer, more energy-efficient and sustainable homes. It also means providing technical support to network organizations seeking to build or to rebuild properties in this arena.
Throughout NeighborWorks America's history, one priority has been to ensure network organizations are governed by strong leaders who serve on their boards. This priority led to the development of NeighborWorks' Excellence in Governance (EIG) program, which is designed exclusively for community development and affordable housing nonprofits.
The line of faculty members snaked around the meeting room at the NeighborWorks Training Institute in Chicago in August 2023. The task was to line up according to who had been a part of NeighborWorks America's premiere, professional training the longest. Peg Barringer, an economic development practitioner, and Ethan Pope, a community development professional who has taught courses on subjects from financial fitness for counselors to homebuyer education methods, stood together at the head of the line.
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