There were already obstacles when it came to building homes on the Navajo Nation. Accessing water and electricity, for instance. Or the ability for would-be homeowners to find a mortgage. Native Partnership for Housing (NPH), a NeighborWorks network organization working to create a path to affordable homeownership, had an additional obstacle: Finding the right construction crew to do the job.

In 1999, Ron and Karen Maldonado were the first. "We were the first mortgage for what was then Navajo Partnership for Housing," Ron Maldonado explains. The couple had moved from Tucson, Arizona, where they lived and worked, to Karen's homesite on the Navajo reservation where she grew up. 

The Navajo Nation encompasses 27,000 miles in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. On the reservation, steeped in history and customs, there are also challenges when it comes to housing, to supplies and lumber, to hookups to clean running water. Add in a national pandemic and the challenges grow exponentially. So does determination to meet them.

For 25 years, Memphis, Tennessee's United Housing, Inc., has built and renovated hundreds of homes, while helping individuals with everything from repair loans to down payment assistance.

For 25 years, Memphis, Tennessee's United Housing, Inc., has built and renovated hundreds of homes, while helping individuals with everything from repair loans to down payment assistance.

 In the counties surrounding the Way Finders offices in Springfield, Massachusetts, the need for resident support was growing rapidly. With the spread of COVID-19 and the loss of jobs and income, more people needed rental and other assistance. The NeighborWorks network organization responded swiftly, adding new programs and hiring dozens of staff members to meet those escalating needs. How much did they scale up? 

 It's the leafy greens and peaches that residents go for the most this time of year, shares Carly Sanders, food program director for NeighborImpact. She's talking about the fresh produce that comes from a partnership between the NeighborWorks network organization and High Desert Food and Farm Alliance (HDFFA). The HDFFA matches farmers who have extra produce with NeighborImpact's food bank. 

Before the pandemic, when Junie Celestin, student loan counselor at Urban Edge, saw clients with loan debt, she was helping them get out of default. During the pandemic, with a moratorium on student loan interest and payments, the questions she's getting have changed.