A weekly newsletter highlighting the NeighborWorks network
NeighborWorks Works - a weekly newsletter highlighting the NeighborWorks network
Black History Month: Creating positive change in communities
Green circle with white text that reads: NeighborWorks organizations assisted 62,134 African American renters and homeowners in FY 2016
When he recognized Black History Month officially in 1976, President Gerald Ford asked Americans to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history." Since then, every February, we commemorate those contributions, celebrate achievements (and the people who made them) and highlight work yet undone.

In this issue of NeighborWorks Works, we highlight some of the programs and people making a difference through their community development efforts.
'I'm invested': Homeownership gives youth counselor a greater stake in his Alabama community
Gerrel Jones sits at a chair wearing a gray shirt
A 2017 study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University states that the black-white homeownership gap is the widest it's been since World War II.

A NeighborWorks network member—Neighborhood Housing Services of Birmingham—and the LIFT program are working to close that gap, helping a counselor of troubled youth purchase a home and create a safe haven for young people with no place to go.
Janet Simmons steps up when a leader is needed
A video still of Janet Simmons, an elderly black woman
At 90 years old, Janet Troutman Simmons hasn't slowed down. In fact, in 2017, she won the Dorothy Richardson Award for Resident Leadership for steadfastly fighting for affordable housing for all.
Meet Dorothy Richardson: inspiration for NeighborWorks
Black and white photograph of Dorothy Richardson
Black History Month is the ideal time to remember the pioneering community development work of Dorothy Richardson, the driving force behind the establishment of Neighborhood Housing Services Inc. in Pittsburgh, the forerunner of today's NeighborWorks network.
SPOTLIGHT
Music connects, unites—and raises money
A man playing an instrument outside
As two NeighborWorks America network members discovered, music can be the "secret ingredient" that brings people together around a common cause, to celebrate differences or just to get to know each other.
Green circle with white text that reads: NeighborWorks organizations assisted 62,134 African American renters and homeowners in FY 2016
Green circle with white text that reads: NeighborWorks organizations assisted 62,134 African American renters and homeowners in FY 2016
Green circle with white text that reads: NeighborWorks organizations assisted 62,134 African American renters and homeowners in FY 2016
Green circle with white text that reads: NeighborWorks organizations assisted 62,134 African American renters and homeowners in FY 2016
Green circle with white text that reads: NeighborWorks organizations assisted 62,134 African American renters and homeowners in FY 2016
Green circle with white text that reads: NeighborWorks organizations assisted 62,134 African American renters and homeowners in FY 2016
Green circle with white text that reads: NeighborWorks organizations assisted 62,134 African American renters and homeowners in FY 2016
Green circle with white text that reads: NeighborWorks organizations assisted 62,134 African American renters and homeowners in FY 2016
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