With unprecedented federal funding available for new sustainable energy projects, NeighborWorks America wants to make sure that nonprofit affordable housing and community development practitioners remain on the leading edge. That means offering training courses that will give affordable developers the foundation they need to foster safer, more energy-efficient and sustainable homes. It also means providing technical support to network organizations seeking to build or to rebuild properties in this arena. 

Even before unprecedented federal funding became available for environmental technology, NeighborWorks network organizations had taken climate impact into account as they worked to find ways to heat and cool homes. 

"It's important as a nonprofit community development organization to be both aspirational and a leader," says Kevin O'Connor, chief executive officer of RUPCO, which joined the U.S. Green Building Council in 2005. 

What does it mean to be rural? And is it overdue a change in perspective?  

"We want people to think of rural as an asset," says Elena Kaye-Schiess, program manager, Rural Initiatives. "A lot of rural communities have to be self-sufficient in many ways. As a result of that, there's an opportunity to breed innovation and solutions to challenges." 

In 2020, a storm hit central Virginia that left residents without power for several days. One of Piedmont Housing's properties was without heat, and residents couldn't travel to replenish supplies or charge their phones. So when staff at the Charlottesville nonprofit, together with the community, had a chance to put in protections for residents as part of a redevelopment project, they did. The result will be seen in a new community resource center, part of a larger redevelopment of Friendship Court, recently renamed by residents as Kindlewood.

In 2020, a storm hit central Virginia that left residents without power for several days. One of Piedmont Housing's properties was without heat, and residents couldn't travel to replenish supplies or charge their phones. So when staff at the Charlottesville nonprofit, together with the community, had a chance to put in protections for residents as part of a redevelopment project, they did. The result will be seen in a new community resource center, part of a larger redevelopment of Friendship Court, recently renamed by residents as Kindlewood.

In California, a NeighborWorks network organization is developing San Francisco's first fully electrified affordable housing building while another helps drought-stricken communities when their wells run dry. In Minnesota, a network organization is prioritizing solar to help cut utility costs, both for the nonprofit and for the residents who live in their buildings. Meanwhile, in the South and Northeast, network organizations are creating buildings and homes that are resistant to flooding. 

When Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, it decimated roads, power and infrastructure. In the small community of Villalba, government workers weren't able to access the people who needed help. But volunteers and staff from Ponce Neighborhood Housing Services were already there.  

"We were the liaison," says Elizabeth Colón Rivera, Ponce's CEO. "We went to the municipality's emergency centers, offering our services and letting them know we had the resources, tools and water to help them."  

When affordable housing and community development organizations look at climate resiliency, they approach it from many different angles. Some focus on solar. Others focus on landscaping, HVAC systems and building new homes that can withstand the storms to come.