Last year, Marcus Harvin had two graduations. The first? With his class at the University of New Haven. The second? With the people with whom he began his journey into higher education: The men imprisoned at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institute, where Harvin had spent six years, two months and two weeks. He got special permission to go back and join his friends at the prison's graduation last June.  

"The same place they strip-searched me is the room where I met the governor," Harvin says.  

The 40^th annual NeighborWorks Week saw 150 events across the country this year. They ranged from classes on homebuying to park cleanups to social media campaigns and more. In some towns, volunteers gathered to spruce up homes for older residents. In others, it was working on a community center or beautifying a community garden. NeighborWorks Week is held each year to bring communities together and to highlight the way NeighborWorks network organizations empower communtiies for success.

Arlanda Brantley says she doesn't come by exercising naturally. Nature? That's not exactly her thing, either. Yet every Saturday, she leads a group of Black women on walks through Waterbury, Connecticut.

The regular, thorough organizational assessments required of all nonprofits wanting to become and stay members of the NeighborWorks network is daunting. There is no denying it: The process requires significant staff time and is both demanding and rigorous. But it is a compelling point of differentiation for funders and policymakers, and many organizations have discovered a variety of internal benefits that have made them champions of the requirement.