NeighborWorks Community Building and Organizing Initiative

Community Building and Organizing in the NeighborWorks® Network

New! Click here to see the Community Building and Organizing 2005-2006 Annual Report.

Community building and organizing are central to the NeighborWorks network. They include a range of ongoing activities that strengthen individual/family and community assets, including physical, social, organizational and financial assets. In fact, the roots of the NeighborWorks system go back to a 1968 resident-led campaign for better housing in Pittsburgh. Dorothy Richardson and her block club persuaded 16 financial institutions to make loans to help their community win the battle against slumlords and disinvestment.

Now, more than 25 years after Congress in 1978 formally created the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (now doing business as NeighborWorks America), which founded the NeighborWorks network, the resident-led, Pittsburgh partnership model is still the heart of the network: local residents, local businesses, and local governments working together to strengthen communities and transform lives.

Community building and organizing are critical to the success of NeighborWorks organizations. Buildings can be rehabbed and services provided, but it is the people who live in community who will make sure that changes last over the long run.

Rather than watching – or waiting for – people from outside a community to come in and “do things” for its residents, resident leaders actively take responsibility for the outcome of their community, and recruit neighbors to join in. When residents work together to improve their community, bonds are built that foster cultural and social understanding. Community leaders also help ensure that strong local partnerships are formed to increase resources and that time and money will not be spent on mismatched programs.

Related Links:

NeighborWorks Awards – An annual awards program that recognizes the contributions of resident leaders, as well as, government and business volunteers who help strengthen and revitalize America's communities.
National NeighborWorks Week—An annual event in which tens of thousands of businesspeople, neighbors and political leaders are mobilized as volunteers for a series of special events and activities that promote neighborhood change and awareness.
NeighborWorks Community Organizing Symposium in New Orleans. This symposium explored the challenging aspects of community rebuilding after a disaster and the impact of job loss and other events that destroy the fabric of a neighborhood. In addition, participants explored how social and economic inequalities can be eradicated in the rebuilding process. View introduction video.
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NeighborWorks Community Building & Organizing Initiative

The NeighborWorks Resident Leadership Initiative, now known as the NeighborWorks Community Building & Organizing Initiative, was created in 1995 to enhance the role of residents in revitalizing NeighborWorks communities. The initiative develops, coordinates and implements strategies to support the NeighborWorks network's core value of resident-led community development.

The Initiative works to support community building and organizing strategies, strengthen resident leadership development, and build the capacity of resident leaders and associations in local organizations. This work is done through grants, technical assistance, and training for network members; and other efforts that expand the reach of NeighborWorks America's programs and systems to support resident leadership and community building.

The initiative provides training and support to community organizers and other community building staff within the NeighborWorks network through a biannual Community Organizer Symposium, technical assistance, tools, and networking opportunities. The initiative also provides training to resident leaders through Community Leadership Institutes and other training events.

Taken together, these efforts and events provide powerful venues for coalescing community leaders around critical issues and enhancing their potential to create positive change.

Goals of the Community Building & Organizing Initiative

Using the mechanisms of the NeighborWorks network to encourage local NeighborWorks organizations to develop their constituencies or membership, train constituents/members in the competencies of active and effective citizenship and leadership, and engage constituents in resident-driven community-change efforts.
Through program development and research, to develop replicable models for best practices in:

integrating community building and organizing and resident leadership into the business lines of NeighborWorks organizations;
developing community building and organizing workplans;
developing measures and documentation systems for community building and organizing and resident leadership development; community building and revitalization; and
developing the organizational structures and practices needed for effective community participation.

To generate resources for community organizing and resident leadership development for NeighborWorks organizations.
To promote the goals of community building and revitalization internally within NeighborWorks America and throughout the NeighborWorks network.
To provide technical assistance and training to NeighborWorks America staff in the areas of community organizing, community building, resident leadership development, and neighborhood revitalization.

Last updated April 24, 2007