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.
NeighborWorks America's network organizations pivoted quickly over the last year to make sure their residents were safe. They provided rental assistance. They provided food. And some even partnered with health departments to respond directly to the pandemic.
When the new residents came to Manchester, New Hampshire – from Nepal, from Somalia, from Sudan, from Bhutan – they wanted to farm, growing food that would allow them to be self-sufficient in their new home. Some of them lived in apartments, with no gardening space. The Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success (ORIS) found them that space. And since 2011, farmers have grown and sold crops through Fresh Start Farms.