Marcia Erickson grew up on a cattle farm in rural South Dakota where neighbors knew and took care of one another. If one neighbor fell ill or got hurt when it was time to bring in the corn, the others were ready to help. “The crops can’t wait,” Erickson said.  

Lee Anne Adams has more than 20 years of experience working with affordable housing and community development organizations, both in the U.S. and Latin America. She's spent more than half of her career at NeighborWorks® America and in July, became the national nonprofit's executive vice president and chief operating officer. We sat down with her to talk about the insights she's gained from her new role.

You’ve been Chief Operating Officer at NeighborWorks® America for about nine months. What have you learned about NeighborWorks and yourself? 

“Housing is a spectrum,” says Mel Willie, senior director of Native American Partnerships and Strategy at NeighborWorks® America. “And we want to reach people on all parts of that spectrum.”

NeighborWorks® America convened a Housing Supply Solutions Lab last week to provide affordable housing and community development practitioners in the network a chance to dig deeply into innovative building techniques, zoning and land-use reform, and attainability and affordability. The lab format allowed the participants a chance not just to listen, but to speak, learn and solve challenges together. They left the eight-hour session with new connections and new ideas. 

NeighborWorks® America honored the legacy of three Midwest network organizations Monday night during a reception that capped off the first full day of the NeighborWorks Training Institute. The organizations, Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, Hispanic Housing Development Corp., and South Bend Heritage, were celebrating 50 years of impact in the greater Chicago area.

From all across the country, affordable housing and community development practitioners convened at the NeighborWorks® Training Institute (NTI) in Chicago, Illinois, this week to learn, to grow and to help build solutions to an affordable housing crisis that continues to put homes, both rented and owned, out of reach. The training institute attracted well over 1,000 participants, though some were slowed by an East Coast snowstorm that landed just as the institute began. 

In February at NeighborWorks® America, the focus has  been on capacity building. It’s not just because this month features the organization’s premier NeighborWorks Training Institute, held from Feb. 23-27 in Chicago, Illinois. 

A treasured historic landmark in Houston has been restored, thanks to Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation (CRC). The NeighborWorks® network member organization, with its partner Cloudbreak Communities, recently transformed the former St. Elizabeth Hospital in Houston from a vacant shell to a flourishing apartment community named St. Elizabeth Place.