NeighborWorks® America Awards $9.5 Million in Sixth Tranche of FY 2025 Flexible Impact Grants Lifting Fiscal Year 2025 Total to $81 Million

September 12, 2025 
Contact: Arian Tyler
[email protected], [email protected]

NeighborWorks® America Awards $9.5 Million in Sixth Tranche of FY 2025 Flexible Impact Grants Lifting Fiscal Year 2025 Total to $81 Million 

Grants Deliver Essential Capital Toward Market-Based Solutions to the Nation’s Housing Supply and Affordability Crisis 

Susan M. Ifill, NeighborWorks® America’s executive vice president and chief operating officer for the last five years, retires this month, leaving behind a legacy of tackling affordable housing and community development challenges. Her career has included banking – she was at both Carver Federal Savings Bank and Bank of America. It has included nonprofit leadership – she served as CEO of Neighborhood Housing Services in New York. And it has included community – her volunteer work has included serving on the boards of Cambridge College and Purple Heart Homes.

NeighborWorks America Awards $11.8 Million in Fifth Tranche of FY 2025 Flexible Impact Grants

For Immediate Release 

July 31, 2025 

Contact: Douglas Robinson

[email protected]

NeighborWorks America Awards $11.8 Million in Fifth Tranche of FY 2025 Flexible Impact Grants

Fiscal Year 2025 Investment of $71.5 Million To Date to Nonprofits Delivering Market-Based Solutions to the Nation’s Housing Supply and Affordability Crisis 

Before she began working as deputy director of Lakota Funds, Ellen White Thunder had built a background in construction. She was certified as a residential building inspector. She was a certified pipelayer. She had her certification in plumbing inspection. “I love everything about construction,” she explains. And she knew that knowledge in construction would be needed on Pine Ridge and other reservations in South Dakota, where there was not just a shortage of homes, but a shortage of the people who could build them and make sure they were safe.
Housing counselors often see people at the best of times – on the verge of fulfilling a dream – but also see people at their most vulnerable times and everywhere in between. “It’s taxing work,” says Ann DiPetta, who has worked in the affordable housing and community development field for over 20 years. “It’s demanding. It can be emotionally difficult. And it’s important to take care of yourself so you don’t burn out.”
NeighborWorks America convened 17 real estate professionals from across the network this week for an in-person training to focus on Advancing Leaders in Real Estate. This is the first time all four regions of the country have been a part of the intensive, 10-month program, which started in the Northeast and has grown over the past three years.