Washington, D.C., June 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Over 40 years ago, NeighborWorks America was established to replicate a model for housing and community development that would level the playing field and dismantle the system that was keeping too many families on the wrong side of opportunity, equality, safety and security. Our reach and purpose have allowed us to serve communities, large and small, across this country. Each year, we set aside the first full week of June for NeighborWorks Week to highlight the collective impact of our work and acknowledge the thousands of volunteers, business partners, national and civic leaders who stand with us to help deliver on our critical mission.
This week, NeighborWorks America will begin providing grants from our Critical Relief Fund, one of two funds established to support communities in crisis. Thanks to a generous grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation, the Critical Relief Fund and the Rental Resilience Fund are available to our network organizations to expand essential work in local communities. Our Critical Relief Fund will support infrastructure needs to provide operational support and housing counseling services amid the current economic crisis. Our Rental Resilience Fund provides liquidity to organizations with rental portfolios to mitigate impacts of relative rent loss.
“The Wells Fargo Foundation understands that we are facing unprecedented times and that our network organizations are truly standing in the gap for communities and families,” said Marietta Rodriguez, president & CEO of NeighborWorks America. “We are grateful for our longstanding partnership with the Wells Fargo Foundation. Together we have been able to help stabilize communities, increase access and opportunity through training and education. They have stepped up and demonstrated a commitment that will truly help make the difference for the communities and families that need it most.”
During this very nontraditional NeighborWorks Week, where we won’t have our usual in-person events and activities, we instead will reflect on the power of unity and resilience that our communities strive for daily. We are heartened to see that same strength and power driving calls for change and justice. We build on the legacy of giants and innovators who sought to galvanize the collective power of public-private partnerships to ensure that communities were not erased or forgotten. In 2020, as our country responds to the impacts of COVID-19 and cries out in social justice protests, we are grateful to be able to say that we have partners who stand beside us and also are committed to ensuring housing security, community stability and consumer financial health.
"This year, our NeighborWorks Week will look very different, as our network communities focus on mitigating the impacts of COVID-19, addressing housing instability and resource inequities. While they focus on these concerns, we will uplift their work and continue to champion the needs of the communities and people we serve, because that is what we have done for the past four decades, and we cannot stop now,” said Rodriguez.
Get involved and find a NeighborWorks Week opportunity or event in your community. Follow #NWWeek #StrongCommunities #ResilientCommunities and #UnityInCommunity or vist https://www.neighborworks.org/nww to learn more about NeighborWorks Week.
About NeighborWorks America
For more than 40 years, Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp., a national, nonpartisan nonprofit known as NeighborWorks America, has strived to make every community a place of opportunity. Our network of excellence includes nearly 250 members in every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. NeighborWorks America offers grant funding, peer-exchange, technical assistance, evaluation tools and access to training, as the nation's leading trainer of housing and community development professionals. NeighborWorks network organizations provide residents in their communities with affordable homes, owned and rented; financial counseling and coaching; community building through resident engagement; and collaboration in the areas of health, employment and education. In the last five years, our organizations have generated more than $34 billion in investment across the country.