LaCasa Inc. officials recently learned that the organization has earned an exemplary rating from NeighborWorks America. Also, a film about LaCasa’s work in Goshen will premiere in Washington D.C. Wednesday.
NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit organization created by Congress, every three years sends a team to evaluate LaCasa’s performance.
According to LaCasa Executive Director Larry Gautsche, this year the team visited Goshen in April and met with government and private stakeholders in the community along with clients, tenants, staff and administration to rate LaCasa’s performance. The exemplary rating is NeighborWorks’ highest rating awarded for organizational operations and financial stability.
NWA provides financial support, technical assistance and training for community-based revitalization efforts. LaCasa has been a member of NeighborWorks since 1999.
Film premiere
In November, Gautsche said, a film crew contracted by NeighborWorks was on site in Elkhart County to document how LaCasa is working to stabilize the community and neighborhoods during this time of economic challenge. The film will premiere at a symposium in Washington D.C. Wednesday titled “Rising to the Challenge: Stabilizing Communities in the Wake of Foreclosures.”
LaCasa, along with community development organizations in Massachusetts and St. Louis, Mo., were selected as effective, replicable models of comprehensive community development and neighborhood stabilization, according to Gautsche.
While in Elkhart County, the crew filmed representatives of local government, new homeowners, a LaCasa foreclosure counselor at work and a financial fitness class. The crew also visited with volunteers from Chase Bank and Merit Learning Center, and with representatives of neighborhoods in both Goshen and Elkhart.
