NeighborWorks network organizations across the country celebrated NeighborWorks Week with paint, plants, trash pickups, cards, signs, hammers, nails, food, and all of the other trappings you’d expect in a community celebration. Held each year the first full week in June, NeighborWorks Week highlights the collective impact of NeighborWorks America’s nearly 250 network nonprofits. The week, celebrated nationally since 1983, also celebrates the resiliency and strength of communities.
In Idaho, NeighborWorks Boise painted 25 homes this year for Paint the Town, a project they’ve been
doing for 39 years. During NeighborWorks Week, the organization gathered nearly 400 volunteers from neighborhoods and local businesses to paint houses for veterans, seniors and disabled individuals. Often during the week, volunteers also take care of minor repairs and needs they discover as they paint, from yardwork to repairing a staircase. "A lot of our teams go above and beyond," says Inga Hadder, communications director for NeighborWorks Boise. "After this past year, to do something for others in person is really meaningful. People are anxious to help out their neighbors."
"Renewing connections" was the theme for NeighborWorks Salt Lake, a NeighborWorks network organization that provided Mindful Meditation every day during NeighborWorks Week. The goal was 
to allow residents to renew their connections to themselves as well as one another.
NeighborWorks Salt Lake offered the activity both online, with lunchtime meditations via Zoom, and in the evenings, with Yoga in the Park.
It was a hot day in Iowa on Saturday as the staff and volunteers worked to clean up and transform an area in front of one of Community Housing Initiatives' senior communities with a new pollinator garden. "Plants were relocated, rock hard beds were tilled and pollinator species were planted," says Daphne Christianson, communications director. "We can't wait to watch this beautiful area fill in! True to Iowa in the summer, it was hot, the ground was solid and unforgiving, yet people showed up, worked hard, and our new pollinator garden is gorgeous!"
NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire’s NeighborWorks Week event was held on Saturday, June 5 and Sunday, June 6 in Manchester 
with a Wellness Weekend theme. On Saturday, the nonprofit celebrated the redevelopment of 150 Spruce Street with the official opening of Fresh Start Farms, a fresh fruits and vegetables market created and operated by the Organization for Immigrant and Refugee Success (ORIS). The building, purchased in 2019, was a problem to the neighborhood – an empty, dilapidated property that was a magnet for various illicit behavior, leaders say. The partnership with ORIS has created a location where the organization can aggregate and store produce grown locally by immigrant farmers to be sold at this location and other sites in the state. Event attendees also participated in exercise activities, enjoyed fruit smoothies at Don Quijote Restaurant, and partook in outdoor games and healthy snacks at Hope Tabernacle, all located in the Center City neighborhood.
At Mid Central Community Action in Illinois,
community members worked on a butterfly garden and covered a picnic table with messages like "love," "seek justice" and "joy to the world." Both NeighborWorks Week projects were in honor of the late Deborah White, past executive director of MCCA, who always enjoyed celebrating community. Community members also came by MCCA to honor White's contributions to the Bloomington community.
At Beyond Housing in St. Louis, NeighborWorks Week began with a clean-up project where dedicated volunteers and committed community members filled up 15 bags worth of litter. Volunteers were given Pick Up & Pitch In T-shirts, a gardening tool to inspire community beautification, hand sanitizer, masks and a free admission ticket to the Beyond-Housing-owned 24:1 Movie Theatre to encourage supporting local businesses. Leaders say picking up trash in the community helps curb community trash costs, protects children from picking trash up off the ground, protects wildlife and creates a sense of community pride. After picking up and pitching in, volunteers gathered for a Facebook live hosted by Beyond Housing leaders.
The team GCHP, one of the networks newest members, celebrated
NeighborWorks Week by learning more about it. The staff engaged in a special virtual presentation and question-and-answer sesssion with Southern Region Vice President Donald Phoenix and Southern Region Senior Relationship Manager, James Ross, followed by a pizza celebration for employees from all 27 GCHP managed properties and offices.
And many network organizations took the opportunity to raise awareness of housing scams during NeighborWorks Week. StopHomeScams.org, a NeighborWorks America intiative, helped organizations direct attention to how to identify and report scams.
06/14/2021
