The tears caught me off guard. When I told my husband that the proposed federal budget cuts include NeighborWorks… out they came, filling my eyes and rolling down my cheeks.
Does that make me sound weak (that I actually cried)? For a moment I thought it might, but then I changed my mind. I remembered the time one of my mentors shed tears during a speech she gave about nuclear weapons. She scolded herself afterwards, embarrassed that she had unintentionally performed the part of a stereotypical emotional woman. I defended her honor all those years ago, insistent that the problem with our world is not that people cry when talking about nuclear weapons, but that far too many people don’t.
So, yes, I cried when I saw the list of programs that the Whitehouse wants to eliminate. And I’ll probably do it again. There are so many worthwhile programs in peril; this one just happens to feel like a personal friend.
For anyone who doesn’t know, NeighborWorks is a program that helps fund organizations like Goshen’s LaCasa, Inc.
LaCasa pulls money from federal, state, local, and private sources — and adds a whole bunch of volunteers — to accomplish things like putting roofs over people’s heads. Sometimes that means using matched savings accounts for first-time home purchases. Sometimes it means helping homeowners avoid foreclosure; and still other times it means replacing a homeowner’s leaking roof through the Help-a-House program.
All of these individual homeowners are connected to entire neighborhoods; and organizations like LaCasa and NeighborWorks understand that people’s economic destinies are tied to their neighbors.
Here’s where I get choked up: the NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute. It’s an annual conference that puts 1,000 people who care about their neighbors together in one place for three days. People from all over the nation — people of varying racial, ethnic and cultural groups — attend workshops, comparing successes and challenges from their own neighborhoods.
I need you to know that these conference attendees are some of the most inspirational, good-hearted, justice-seeking people I’ve ever met. People who traded in six-figure incomes for non-profit salaries because they wanted to work with youth in inner cities; people who non-violently took back a public park from drug dealers; people who set up job training centers and after-school programs and the list goes on. Seven years I attended that conference … and seven years I came back home feeling good about the world, about my country, about Goshen.
For over a decade, LaCasa has sent local teams to the conference who then return to launch projects with small NeighborWorks grants earned when they submit a written plan. I first attended as a volunteer for my own neighborhood; and then later, when I was a LaCasa employee, I recruited teams and traveled along with them.
There are too many names to list, but when I hear talk of eliminating the program, I can’t help but think of all the Goshen residents who have tackled projects with NeighborWorks (and LaCasa).
I think of the families that met over the course of several years on a vacant lot at Center and North Eighth streets to dig and plant and harvest vegetables together. I remember the kids who held up worms and yanked out dandelions, kids of varying colors, cultures and ages.
And the mural, I think of the mural, too. The one across the street from Chamberlain Elementary where most of the children qualify for free or reduced lunch. I remember that hot, sticky summer when a local artist let a whole bunch of people in the neighborhood “help” her paint. As we stood sweating in the afternoon sun, passersby honked and waved their approval. We waved back, offering thumbs up and “woo-hoos.” When it was done, everyone who held a brush was proud.
And those Westside Women. After a shooting on their block, several of them decided to organize. We consumed a lot of donuts and coffee on Saturday mornings as they charted a course. Now they lead a thriving neighborhood association.
The dollar amount that flows to Goshen from NeighborWorks and other affordable housing programs is minimal in the grand scheme of things, but the funding is significant to our smallish community — and its economy.
Budgets are so much more than numbers. They are documents that reflect our deepest held values. Surely we can agree that in this community… in this country… tending to our neighbors and neighborhoods makes good sense. Anything less than that should bring a tear to all our eyes.
Julia, thanks for making us aware of this budget cut and for your passion for Goshen neighborhoods. I know the West Goshen Women would agree that Neighbor Works, especially the leadership conference that resulted in a small grant to help us with our early efforts, is a good use of public money. Yes, tending to neighborhoods makes good sense, as does writing letters to our congressional representatives saying so.
And, Sandy, keep in mind that NeighborWorks is just one of the programs that supports local neighborhood initiatives. Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding is even more significant in terms of actual dollars — and possibly even more likely to be eliminated than NeighborWorks. I will add that you as an individual and your neighborhood in general have added a great deal of value to the meager dollars that have come your way! Thank you.