ATLANTA, Feb. 13, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today NeighborWorks America, which creates opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives and strengthen their communities, announced it will hold its quarterly NeighborWorks Training Institute in downtown Atlanta on February 18-22, 2013. The weeklong event will provide training to more than 1,750 affordable housing and community development professionals from around the country. The Training Institute is expected to deliver an estimated $2 million in economic impact citywide.
NeighborWorks America selected Atlanta for its Training Institute because it has a strong track record in community development and affordable housing work and is accessible to affordable housing and community development nonprofits in the United States. NeighborWorks America provides training to thousands of community development professionals from more than 3,000 organizations annually, including the more than 235 organizations that belong to the NeighborWorks network located in every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The Training Institute is open to community development professionals, housing counselors, realtors, and others from nonprofit and for-profit organizations from around the country. In addition to the many training courses being offered during the week, nearly 200 community leaders, policymakers, researchers and funders have registered for a special February 20 symposium, "Charting the Course: Fundraising in a Competitive Environment," which highlights goal-oriented strategies, bold approaches, and high-impact tools that will allow individuals to boost their fundraising results during one of the most competitive environments in fundraising history.
The NeighborWorks Training Institute in Atlanta is supported by a variety of partners, including The Wells Fargo Housing Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Bank of America, Chase, Citi and the Citi Foundation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and USDA Rural Development.
In addition to the NeighborWorks Training Institute held in Atlanta, NeighborWorks organizations are at work every day on the ground, serving Atlanta and the surrounding community, which continues to face many challenges including an unstable economy and a high foreclosure rate. The unemployment rate in Atlanta is more than 8 percent. Georgia posted one of the nation's highest state foreclosure rates in 2012 at nearly 3 percent.
Resources for Residents and Communities in Atlanta and NeighborWorks Columbus in Columbus are local partners for NeighborWorks America and Wells Fargo's LIFT program, a multi-market initiative with the primary goal to assist mortgage-ready buyers into sustainable homeownership by providing a suite of services that includes homebuyer preparation and down payment assistance. The LIFT program first launched in February 2012 in Los Angeles and Atlanta. The following NeighborWorks organizations are in Georgia: Cobb Housing, Inc. (Marietta, GA); NeighborWorks Columbus (Columbus, GA); and Resources for Residents and Communities of Georgia, Inc. (Atlanta, GA).
"For 26 years, our training institutes have gathered community development professionals from around the country, educating and informing them and helping already strong practitioners master the skills needed to improve communities," said Eileen Fitzgerald, chief executive officer of NeighborWorks America.
NeighborWorks America has held national Training Institutes since 1987. In 2012, the NeighborWorks Training Institute trained more than 6,000 professionals from 2,100 organizations, and awarded more than 10,000 training certificates. In addition to the national Training Institutes, the organization offers a variety of training opportunities for professionals throughout the year. In total, NeighborWorks America trained nearly 13,000 professionals from more than 3,000 organizations, and awarded more than 20,000 training certificates in 2012.
For more information about NeighborWorks America, and to register for the Training Institute, visit www.nw.org.
About NeighborWorks America
For 35 years, NeighborWorks America has created opportunities for people to improve their lives and strengthen their communities by providing access to homeownership and to safe and affordable rental housing. In the last five years, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $19.5 billion in reinvestment in these communities. NeighborWorks America is the nation's leading trainer of community development and affordable housing professionals.
The NeighborWorks America logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=15144