Meet people where they live, work and play

“You need to be able to meet people where they are at. If they are struggling with unemployment, go to career service centers. If clients are struggling with basic necessities, provide services at food banks,” says Colin Kelley, executive director of NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania (NWWPA).

When his staff noticed some residents in western Pennsylvania were not adequately accessing their services, they came up with a plan to leave the office and bring the services to the community.

“Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods are rooted in intense geographic and neighborhood loyalty which is expressed most prominently among long-time residents, who have struggled with participating in the city’s redevelopment and post-deindustrialization revival,” says Kelley. “Without the participation of long-term residents, we would see many Pittsburghers insufficiently benefitting from the redevelopment in the city, specifically when it came to affordable homeownership.”

Sherlyn Michie and her children, Nyabingi, Ayan, and Moses Michie, with a vision board of the family’s finances.

That’s when the organization decided to take its services directly to where clients lived, worked and played. NWWPA created a “satellite model,” partnering with different community-based organizations to provide critical housing counseling services to residents in need.

“We identified the neighborhoods where current or pending redevelopment was to occur and worked with well-respected and trusted neighborhood-based organizations to help us develop name-recognition within each respective community,” adds Kelley.

From there, NWWPA expanded its services to multiple counties and offer neighborhood-based counseling at eight locations in addition to its homeownership center in downtown Pittsburgh.

As a result of the expansion, NWWPA staffers identified another issue. They realized the recession was having a significant impact in the region and resulting in foreclosures. Through direct partnerships with employment and career centers throughout the area, NWWPA saw a jump in the number of clients receiving its credit counseling services. Their consistent need was for help in repairing and maintaining their finances as they went through the stress of income loss and the subsequent search for employment.

Through listening and being adaptable, NWWPA now has more than 10 satellite locations and is providing counseling services to residents throughout western Pennsylvania.

“Listen to your clients and respond to their needs and goals, rather than imposing a service you think they need,” says Kelley. "Thinking ‘if we build it, they will come’ is insufficient; rather, work with stakeholders, clients and the community to ensure you are providing services that are relevant and accessible to those in need.”