The Fellowship for Equitable Development (FED) is an 8-month paid program that connects top-tier Master’s and Ph.D. students with leading community development organizations to cultivate the “leaders of tomorrow.”

Through this initiative, fellows receive a $20,000 stipend to work approximately 20 hours per week on high-impact projects addressing systemic challenges like climate change, wealth disparities, and housing shortages. By bridging the gap between academic research and grassroots advocacy, the program empowers participants to create tangible solutions for low-to-moderate income and BIPOC communities while gaining professional experience and access to the NCRC’s national network.

Speakers

Laura Bentley, Director, Grant Administration, Community Impact, NCRC
Dia Henderson, Program Manager, Community Impact, NCRC

Transcript:

NCRC video transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. They are lightly edited for style and clarity.

Bentley 0:06
Hi everyone. Thanks for joining us today. We’re going to go ahead and get started. So welcome to the 2026 Fellowship for Equitable Development informational webinar. This webinar is intended for students who are interested in becoming fellows for the program.

So we’re going to get going here. If you do have any questions, please go ahead and place those into the Q and A. And as we get started, just want to remind everyone about the NCRC code of conduct. So this code of conduct does apply to all gatherings, including this one. Secondly, this webinar is being recorded, and this will be available on the fellowship homepage, and we’ll be sharing that link in a moment. We do not permit any AI chat box, so please know that those will not be permitted in this session. But again, the recording will be made available for everyone to review afterwards. As I mentioned, any questions, please add those to the Q and A as opposed to the chat. We’ll be answering those throughout the session, and we will also make sure to go through that at the end as well, during our Q and A time. And using the Q and A feature means they won’t miss anything as well. You’ll see in the bottom right some essential links. The first is the NCRC homepage, and secondly is the homepage specific to the fellowship program. So that’s where you’d want to be checking for all the up-to-date information on the application when it’s released, etc.

Those of you who might not be familiar with us, we are a National Community Reinvestment Coalition, or NCRC, and we are a national network nonprofit of over 700 members, and we focus on a wide variety of topic areas, from housing counseling to health equity, research, etc, but all under the same roof and with the same mission of building wealth in low-wealth communities across our nation. So the fellowship program is one of our offerings, and as we move through the agenda today, we’ll be introducing ourselves, the community impact team within NCRC, we’ll be talking specifically about the fellowship program, the role of the fellow, benefits to fellows. We’ll be sharing some past projects. You can all get a sense of what those projects might look like. And we’ll be going forward with the fellowship timeline and also giving a preview of the fellow applications. You’ll know what to expect. And lastly, again, we’ll have that Q and A time at the end to address any questions.

My name is Laura Bentley, and I’m the director of grant administration with NCRC for our community impact team. And so that you all are familiar with our team members, we have Luis Ortiz, who is one of our program managers, and Dia Henderson, as well, as a second program manager for our team. Dia is the lead for the fellowship program. So for all of you who are joining us today, she would be your main point of contact. But just in case you’re running into Luis along the way, we are part of this particular team. At this point, I’m going to pass it over to Dia, who’ll be taking over the rest of the presentation and sharing with you more information about the fellowship.

Henderson 3:02
Thank you, Laura. Again, my name is Dia Henderson. I am one of the program managers for community impact, and I will be your lead for the Fellowship for Equitable Development. So we’re here to talk about what exactly is this fellowship. So we’re asking you all to be a part of the next generation of community development leaders. NCRC has this Fellowship for Equitable Development to help empower you all to tackle on the issues of tomorrow – even today – by spearheading some local community development projects that we have chosen. So as graduate-level students, we’re going to pair you with NCRC members, member organizations for the next eight months. It’s a pay fellowship, and you all are going to help drive real world impact in affordable housing, small business development, climate resilience, community health and wellness, racial wealth building and so much more. With these projects, we try to prioritize fellowship projects that really aim to move the needle on racial wealth building, community health and wellness and environmental justice through avenues of housing, small business and workforce development, specifically for BIPOC and LMI folk in our target geographies, which I will touch on in two seconds.

So this year, we had a very competitive application process, and we were able to choose eight fellowship projects in the following areas. So we anticipate having placements in Connecticut, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, DC, DMV area. We are planning to announce those pretty soon. So please keep an eye out. But we are expecting there to be an in-person placement to these projects. So we ask that if you are in these areas, you fulfill that in-person placement.

So what are you going to be doing? What is your role? We are asking that the fellows execute the tasks assigned by the host organization. So all host organizations submitted a work plan that clearly outlines the milestones and the deliverables, and I’ll also show you that in a little bit. But we’re asking that you complete those deliverables and do those tasks. We also ask that you fulfill the 20-hour per week part-time commitment. Then finally, we’re also asked that you again, have that in-person aspect. So we’re asking that you please show up to the fellowship projects in the workspace at least once a week. Each host organization has a schedule. Again, I’ll show you that in a little bit. They have a schedule of what days they might you know specifically want you to show up or want you to be in the office. And then NCRC has a few requirements also, so we ask that you participate in regular check-ins with me. This is just giving me some time to get to know you one but also just see how you’re progressing throughout the eight-month fellowship, and seeing what you’ve learned and what you’ve gained from this experience. We also ask that you attend monthly professional development training. So we have trainings that vary from leadership skills to also what it’s like to go from graduate to intern, fellow to professional space. So we develop these trainings to not only for you to get to know NCRC, but for you to really develop as a professional. We also are asking that you join virtual cohort meetings. Excuse me, eyelash, virtual cohort meetings. This is just a chance for you to get to know each other. Seeing that all of the placements are everywhere around the nation, we want our fellows to get to know each other before they join us at the Just Economy Conference. So that goes into our next requirement. We ask that you attend our Just Economy Conference. We host a conference every year. Next year, we’ll be in Washington, DC again in May, and this is just a chance for you all to not only meet, meet us, the staff, but also get to meet other nonprofit and community development leaders across our nation that are a part of our membership. Then, finally, we ask that you complete two reports, the intern report, and then the closeout. This is just giving me and Laura a better understanding of how the fellowship went and how is it going halfway through and at the end.

So those are two our few requirements, the benefits of being a Fellow. You have a few benefits. I think the best benefit, one of the best benefits, is you’re getting paid up to $20,000 in a stipend for your 20-hour commitment. You also are receiving high-quality training from our host organizations, and then also the people you’ll meet along the way, whether that be within NCRC or within your host organization. One of our fellows favorite parts is the free admission to the Just Economy Conference. So this includes admission, lodging and transport for those outside of the DMV area to our annual Just Economy Conference. And then finally, with some depending on some university policies, you may receive potential academic credit for fulfilling this fellowship.

So I just wanted to give you all an idea of what some of our past projects look like. So we have a fellow in Oregon right now working with Housing Oregon to really do some research and advance racial justice in homeownership, in small businesses in Portland, Oregon, and working with some banks to really bridge that gap, that racial wealth gap for bipoc communities. We also had a fellow last year working with the community foundation for Greater New Haven mission Investments company. That fellow is working to help map resources and really provide some technical assistance to small business owners in the New Haven, Connecticut area. And then finally, we have a fellow working with Hip Hop Caucus, who’s really addressing that green banking space and really focusing on climate finance issues, engaging with the community and really investing in those MDIs and CDFIs for BIPOC folk. So just to give you a visual what the process will look like. Like I said, we already had our members apply, and we are finalizing those projects. So from there, once the projects are posted, you all will be able to select projects on the application, these at. Applications will be reviewed by NCRC. The top candidates will be sent off to the host organization for their review. We both will do an interview, and then we will make the selections, and then finally, we would onboard you all along with your host organization. And then the fellowship will begin. To give you a little more specific dates on that timeline, April is your time to apply. So April 8 through May 8 will be your time period to apply. May, we are looking to at least or we are looking to select our finalists and begin our interviews in June, hopefully awarding and then agreement signed towards the end of June. August, we will have our host fellow orientation, onboarding meeting. And then September is when you officially begin your fellowship. February is when we’re looking for those interim reports to be due. And then may we have a busy May, but a fun May. May is the Just Economy Conference. And then the fellowship will be ending in May, following those with the closeout report.

So like I said, your application will be open April 8 through May 8. I did want to give you guys some insight of what that content might look like. So we’re asking for your current enrollment status. So we’re expecting that fellows have completed at least one semester of of graduate- or higher-level school. So we’re asking for transcripts. We are also asking to see if you are an international student. Also, we’re also asking for your address of where you’ll be staying through the eight months of the fellowship. So not necessarily where you’re from, but where are you going to be staying during the duration of the fellowship? Your current employment status, whether that be full-time, part-time or not currently working. Class schedule. I know that most schedules don’t come out until right before school year. So if you had a rough estimate of what that schedule may look like, or an idea of I know a lot of doctoral students, they’re in their dissertation at portion of their program, so they might not have real classes at that point. So if you have any idea of your class schedule, please let us know. A updated and most recent resume. Which project you would want. And then also describing your qualifications and why you would be the best to be selected for that organization and that project. And then finally, some optional demographic questions so we can get to know you a little bit better.

Oh, actually, I did want to go back and show you all a work plan and a project profile. Okay, so this is an example of what the project profiles will look like on our homepage. At the top, you will see the name and the address, again, with that in-person aspect, we are asking that you are relatively within the area of your selected project or host organization. We also have provided an official title for the fellow. So you won’t just be a community impact or NCRC fellow, but you will have an official title. We also give you a synopsis of what the organization does and who they are, and then also the project description and responsibilities for what the fellow will be doing. We also, on the host application, asked them to identify any qualifications and skills they’d be looking for in a fellow so we have listed those also on the project profile, along with their preferred schedule of when their team might meet in person or when they would like you in person versus on online or virtual. We also provide additional information like, what is the topic, whether it be housing, small business or workforce, if this is a new or continuing project, and then how you will be paid, whether as a w2, part-time employee ,or a 1099 contractor. We also attach the work plan to the project profile. So at the top you’ll see the deliverables you’re asked to complete by the end of the the fellowship, and then it also is just broken down by month of what are some milestones and activities that you’ll be going through and conducting to complete and reach those deliverables. And this also includes when the closeout and interim reports are. And at the bottom is just a few requirements, reminding you all of the 20 hours per week and the minimum once a week in the office requirements. So, I did want to show you all that, just to give you an idea what that would look like.

So as we wrap up, I did want to just highlight again that the fellow application will be opening April 8 and will be closing may 8, at 5pm Eastern. The application link will be at the top of our homepage, and then also this webinar will be attached to the homepage, also, if you wanted to go back for reference. So if you have any questions that I didn’t cover, didn’t answer in this session, please contact us at impact@ncrc.org, again, if you want to stay updated or just wanted to get the gist of what the fellowship actually is, please go to our fellowship homepage, where you will find again, this webinar, the application link, and then also those project profiles and their descriptions. And then, if you had any questions about the Just Economy Conference or anything NCRC membership-related, please contact our membership team. They’d be happy to answer any questions you may have. So at this time, I think Haley might have dropped the link, I’m not sure, but there should be a survey in the chat. If you could all complete that just to give us any feedback, that’d be great, but also we’d be taking questions at this point.

Bentley 16:33
Yeah, so I have been looking through the Q and A and thus far, all the questions have been answered, but we’re going to stay on the line for a little bit longer, in case folks are looking to type anything in now that link to the survey has just been dropped into your chat, so you’ll see that there, and that’s really helpful for us. We want to make sure that these webinars are providing useful information for you all, making sure that you have a full grasp of what the process looks like, and so if you’d be able to just take a second there and let us know if there’s anything we can do in the future to make sure that these are as effective and understandable as possible. We really appreciate that. In terms of the questions that I have shared answers to, I do just want to raise those up as well, in case folks haven’t seen that in the Q and A . The first question is, are you required to be a student at the time of the application? And so the, I don’t know if you want to mention that.

Henderson 17:26
Yeah, so I can go back to…so like I said, we are asking for your student enrollment status. We are requesting that you submit transcripts. The requirement for us is that you have completed at least one semester of a graduate or higher level semester, so you do have to have had a semester under your belt to apply and to be eligible for the fellowship.

Bentley 17:55
Yeah, exactly. Secondly, there was someone just checking if there are any California placements at this time. So if you want to pop back to the geography slide really quick, Dia. So as you’ll see, that there is not a California placement anticipated at this round. I do just want to mention that our geographies do differ from year to year. So if your location is not on this list, but you still find yourself, you know, be in a graduate program and otherwise eligible for following rounds. Please know that this is not always the list of geographies. We do vary across the nation, so we just invite you to sign up for our newsletter, say following our social media and in future rounds, these may be different placements as well. We had a question here, Dia, just to confirm if someone lives in a state other than the ones listed, would they not be eligible? And I think it might just be helpful to highlight the in-person requirement and what we’re looking for there.

Henderson 18:53
Yeah. So for the in person requirement, we are asking that you stay in those areas that in person, like I said, that in person aspect is going to give you a better idea of what it’s like working in a in an office and having that that help right there next to you, versus just being virtual, which can make it a little bit more difficult when you’re just all virtual and not having that one on one connection with your supervisor in that team. So we are asking that you have that in person to to build those relationships and get that experience.

Speaker 1 19:35
Thanks. Let’s see here, we had a question just to confirm as well if, if a person was graduating this May, would they be ineligible? And the answer to that is, yes, unfortunately, you would be ineligible. As dia mentioned, you need to be currently enrolled. But congratulations to anyone who’s graduating soon. We have a question here as well. Can multiple fellows be selected for one placement? I’ll just say that in the past, we have had situations of multiple fellows in one placement organization for this round. We don’t anticipate for that to be the case. And if that changes, that would be communicated with applicants who are finalists in the selection process. But at this time, we don’t anticipate that. Let’s see. Now we have a question. When the application opens, we’ll have the addresses of the host institutions. Do you want to speak to that, Dia, of what additional information they can expect between now and the application?

Henderson 20:29
Yes, so within the next couple of days, we will be publishing and announcing the specific locations with the cities and the areas that we are or that we have chosen host organization so that will be on the website, attached to the project profiles, and then also on the application when you can select which projects you are interested in.

Bentley 20:55
Exactly. Okay, we have a question here just about the geographies come on to clarify on the website, they saw some additional other geographies listed, and so that’s something that will be updated as we publish those final selection of host projects. So good catch there we did for our host application phase. It’s just finishing up. We had a slightly wider net of target geographies. But of course, it’s a competitive process, and we just have room for eight slots this time around. And so we have windowed those projects down. And so these eight that you see on the screen are the locations where we anticipate projects for this time around, but good catch, and that will be updated again by the time that the application launches, so that you’ll have the exact location of the projects and those work plans that dia was showing earlier. All of that information will be refreshed on the website to make sure it’s up to date for that application. We have a question about, what if, to dia, what if you’ve received, let’s say, a master’s in a in the particular area already, but you are now enrolled in a different program. Would you be eligible even though you, you know, have one degree, but you’re pursuing another at this time?

Henderson 22:19
Well, one, congratulations for degree. Again, as long as you have that one semester minimum under your belt. So that means, like you’ve already completed a semester of this new program that you that you’re in, you would be eligible. Is not as much as, oh, I’ve already had a degree. Am I eligible with Morris? Have you completed a semester within this new program? But you having the degree in economic development definitely does align with some of the qualifications some of the host organizations may be looking for.

Bentley 23:05
Yeah, so we have a question that is for somebody who, for example, is living in New Jersey, or will be in New Jersey at the time of the application. And so they’re mentioning, you they could, in theory, you know, take a train somewhere else, say to Connecticut or Washington, DC, and so would they be eligible? In that situation? We’re looking for folks to be located, really, within the hour or even half an hour, of a host placement. And the reason for that is because we are looking for that in-person schedule to be something that is convenient for both parties. And so what we found in the past is if folks really have to do a significant amount of travel to make it to their host placement, it just becomes difficult for that to be a fruitful relationship. Sometimes, you know, an additional opportunity will come into your or will come up for our host organizations. They want to invite you to something. They want you to see a client visit. And so this can be really enriching experiences, or they are doing a staff event on a different day. And so when folks are located nearby, it makes those additional opportunities accessible and facilitates a stronger relationship. So we’re looking for you to be in the near vicinity of that host organization, and to make sure that you’re comfortable with that commute, just to make sure that that is a really an ideal match on both sides.

See, I think that that was the last question coming in, so we’ll leave it up for a second. Dia, do you want to pop back to that how to contact us page, and folks can just make any note of our email if you have, again, any specific questions to your situation that you want to address separately. We can definitely support you in that afterwards. And then I know also in the chat, you’ll see some information that was entered that mentioned about the Just Economy Conference for this year coming up with just a couple weeks, so might be short notice for some of you, but again, if you want to get to know us, if you want to just learn about the different work that NCRC is doing, and learn from all of our member organizations, so there’s over 1000 people who attend this conference, from bankers to nonprofit community development professionals, other emerging leaders. Our current cohort of fellows can be a great opportunity to learn, join the informational sessions, listen to our incredible mainstage speakers, and also just be able to connect again with our team and other folks in the industry. So that’s in there as well, in case anyone is interested. Students do have discounted tickets. And with that, I’m going to pass it back to you, Dia, I don’t see any other questions that have come in.

Henderson 25:50
Sounds good. Well, thank you all for joining us today, like Laura just mentioned, and I have up now. If you have any questions, please contact us, and we will get back to you with those answers. Please keep a lookout on those updates to the website. Again, the updates will include the projects for you all to observe, and then also the application link. So just keep an eye on that, and then also the specific cities and areas where we will have host organizations. Thank you all. I hope you all have a great day.

Through partnerships with KeyBank and HSBC Bank USA NA, a total of $4 million was allocated to support direct-to-client housing counseling services for NCRC members. These funds will be distributed via three annual rounds to help housing counseling agencies expand services and support homeownership in underserved communities.

In 2025, NCRC awarded $1.34 million in FEF-HCS grants to 59 NCRC member organizations. $1.36 million will be awarded in grants in the 2026 round to HUD-approved housing counseling agencies that serve clients within target geographies. 

The following states have eligible geographies: AL, AZ, AR, CA, CT, CO, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, MA, MD, MI, MS, MO, NC, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, DC and Puerto Rico. For more information on the eligibility determination process, agencies should review the Eligibility Maps listed on the FEF-HCS’ homepage.

The Housing Counseling Services grant program within FEF supports HUD-approved housing counseling agencies in strengthening services that help families achieve and sustain homeownership. This includes programs such as pre-purchase counseling and homebuyer education that prepare individuals and families to navigate the homebuying process successfully.

The program also helps agencies expand their understanding of heirs’ property challenges by equipping first-time and low-income homebuyers with the knowledge needed to protect and retain intergenerational wealth. By building stronger counseling programs and expanding service capacity, FEF-HCS aims to ensure underserved families not only achieve homeownership but also maintain long-term housing stability.

“NCRC is pleased to support the success of first-time homebuyers in all stages of their journey, from purchase to passing on their assets, with the expert guidance of our member housing counseling agencies,”  said Laura Bentley, NCRC’s director of grant administration. “Through the Field Empowerment Fund, we look forward to boosting agencies’ capacity and knowledge, thus bolstering their continued service to their communities.” 

Since its launch in 2021, the Field Empowerment Fund has provided millions of dollars in grants to NCRC member organizations working to expand wealth-building services for low- and moderate-income communities across the country.

All applications should be submitted through NCRC’s online portal no later than 5 pm ET on May 1, 2026.

Questions regarding this opportunity should be emailed to impact@ncrc.org, with the subject line “FEF-HCS.”

Learn more about the application process to receive grant support for your direct service to clients, while building your agency’s knowledge on how to address heirs’ property challenges and ensure your homebuying clients retain their intergenerational wealth.

The Field Empowerment Fund (FEF) empowers NCRC network members to level up established service lines.

The Housing Counseling Services series within FEF supports HUD-approved housing counseling agencies in building know-how for their staff and driving homeownership opportunities for their clients, such as through pre- and post-purchase counseling.

Speakers

Laura Bentley, Director, Grant Administration, Community Impact, NCRC
Luis Ortiz, Senior Program Manager, Community Impact, NCRC

Transcript:

NCRC video transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. They are lightly edited for style and clarity.

Bentley 0:07
Hello everyone, thank you for joining us. We’re going to get started here. Welcome to the 2026 field Empowerment Fund, housing, counseling services, grant programs, informational webinar. Really excited to have you with us today and share some information about the program, and we will kick it off right now. So first, some housekeeping things before we get started. First is that the NCRC Code of Conduct applies to this as well as all gatherings. Secondly, this session is being recorded and it will be posted to the FEF-HCS homepage. For any questions, we do have a Q and A module at the bottom of your screen, so please go ahead and add any questions there as we go through the presentation, and we’ll be sure to answer as many as we can during our Q and A session at the end. And of course, if you do have any further questions following the session, we’ll be sharing our information at the end of the presentation, and so you can definitely reach out. We’d be happy to help as well with any further questions. At your bottom right, we have some essential links. The first is the NCRC homepage, and the second is the FEF-HCS homepage, specifically so Field Empowerment Fund – Housing Counseling Services, that is the acronym that we use to describe the program, and that FEF page is where you’ll be able to see the recording, as well as all other important information related to the program. For those of you who may not be familiar, we are the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and we are a national nonprofit network organization of over 700 members, we focus on a wide variety of topic areas, from health equity to research to housing counseling, all under the same umbrella and with the same mission of building wealth in low-wealth communities across the nation. In terms of our agenda for today, we’re going to introduce ourselves for the community impact team. We’re going to talk about the FEF-HCS grant program in general, and then get into some more specifics regarding eligibility criteria, what the benefits of the program are, what the specific timeline is, and also give you a preview of the application content so that you can be prepared if you do proceed to submit your application, and then lastly, we will have a Q and A at the end for any questions. My name is Laura Bentley. I am the director of grant administration with NCRC and the community impact team. And there are two members of our team as well who I would like you to all be aware of and get to know, if you don’t know them already. Our first is Luis Ortiz. He is our program manager, actually, as well as Dia Henderson, a second program manager on our team. So Luis will be here, is here on the presentation today with me. He is the lead for the FEF-HCS program. Dia works on other programs within our department. So if you are kind of engaged with us in other ways, you might know Dia from those programs. But with that, I will pass it over to Luis to take over the rest of the presentation.

Ortiz 3:12
Perfect. Thanks, Laura. All right. So let’s get started. So the Field Empowerment Fund, or FEF, as we call it, is designed to support NCRC network members in strengthening and expanding the service lines that they already have in place. So this is really about helping your organization level up the work that you’re already that you’re already doing in the community, in your communities. So within FEF, this series specifically focuses on supporting HUD-approved housing counseling agencies like yourselves in advancing homeownership. This includes activities specifically pre-purchase counseling, helping clients get prepared and positioned to successfully buy their home and it’s important to note that this opportunity is not focused on any other services such as rental counseling or foreclosure prevention. The emphasis is on homeownership and the services that directly support that goal. Additionally, the program includes a strong focus on building knowledge around heir’s property issues. This is critical in helping first-time and low-income homebuyers not only achieve homeownership, but also understand how to retain and pass down wealth across generations.

The FEF-HCS series is made possible through partnerships with KeyBank and HSBC, these partners are investing directly into communities where they have a bank branch presence. So funding is the target geoc… I hate this word, geography… Laura, targeted geography…

Bentley 5:11
I’m too busy chuckling a little bit, Luis.

Ortiz 5:12
…geographically. I always gets stuck on that word, geographically. Within those footprints, you got it through these partnerships, a total of $4 million have been committed $2.5 million from KeyBank, $1.5 million from HSBC, and these funds are specifically designated for sub-grants that directly support direct-to-client housing, counseling services. And again, it’s important to emphasize that these funds are meant to support counseling activities that directly impact clients on their path to home ownership. As you can see, there are three rounds of funding. We’re completing the 2025 round now, kicking off the 2026 round of funding, which includes $850,000 from KeyBank, $510,000 from HSBC. This multi-year structure provides a great opportunity for agencies to plan ahead to build capacity and potentially participate in multiple rounds of funding.

All right. Next slide, eligibility. So to be eligible for this funding opportunity, there are three key requirements. First, your organization must be an active NCRC, 501 c3, member, and you don’t have to be a member to apply, but if awarded, membership will be required. Secondly, you must be a HUD-certified, HUD-approved housing counseling agency. This is important because funding is specifically intended to support high-quality, HUD-compliant housing counseling services. And third, and this is an important update, your organization must have a physical office location or be currently serving clients in an eligible geography. So I want to emphasize this third requirement is a change from 2025 previously, eligibility was more strictly tied to having a physical office in the geography. Now it’s more inclusive. So if you do not have a physical location in that area, you may still be eligible if you are actively serving pre-purchase clients in that geography. This change is intended to better reflect how agencies are delivering services today. You know, a lot of it is remote. And to expand access to funding for organizations already making an impact in these communities. And to help determine eligibility, there is a program eligibility checker available for each funder at ncrc.org/fef, and we’ll take a look at that site on the next slide.

All right, so, so in order to determine if you’re eligible to apply for the FEF-HCS grant opportunity, you’re going to have to go to enter your address into the eligibility checker. And Laura, I think it’s best if we just go over to the website and kind of go from there so that I can better explain how this is done.

Bentley 8:42
Sounds good. So I’ll stop here for one second. Bear with me. Here we are coming back.

Ortiz 8:52
Perfect. So this is the field, Empowerment Fund, housing, counseling services, web page. It’s important that everyone is able to access this web page. As you can see, there’s a register now for the the today’s call, but there’s also going to be, this is where we’re going to place the application link, also on, I think it’s the 23rd we’ll discuss that a little bit more. And as you scroll down, you’ll see other, some other information that we’re discussing now. And as you scroll down a little bit further, you’re going to see the awardees from previous years. If you scroll a little bit back up, Laura, you’re going to see the eligibility checker for each one of the funders. And let’s go ahead and click on the HSBC eligibility checker. This is where you’re going to go ahead and enter your office location into the map, and then we’re going to hit check eligibility. Let’s see what.

Bentley 10:02
I popped in the NCRC office.

Ortiz 10:07
Yeah, so we’re using the NCRC office address, and as you can see, our office is not located. Our office isn’t located in an eligible geography, but if you scroll, if can you scroll out a little bit on that?

Bentley 10:23
Yeah, I’m sorry I selected all the fonts, so it’s giving me that. Let me refresh you could maybe Okay, yeah, yeah, I got one second. Pardon my There we go. There we go. Okay, I’m back with you. Luis, unfortunately, not eligible,

Ortiz 10:48
Right. So listen, we’re not eligible. Our office location is but I believe you can scroll out a little bit, Laura, and if we scroll out, you see that there’s this blue area to the right of our office, and those are eligible areas. So even though, if we were a housing counseling agency that provides direct services, even though our office location is not in an eligible geography, if we’re providing pre-purchase services in that blue area, we will still you will still be and we will still be able to apply for this funding under the believe this is HSBC funding? Correct.  All right, so, and we recommend that you go into both eligibility checkers to see your eligibility under both funding opportunities. So this is this one is clearly labeled, KeyBank, and you’ll do the same exercise here. You’ll enter your address, go to check eligibility, and let’s see what happens with KeyBank. So it looks like we’re not eligible in KeyBank as far as our office location is, what if we scroll out, there’s certain geographies that are eligible under KeyBank as well. So if we were to be providing pre purchase services in those blue areas, we would still be able to apply under the KeyBank funding as well. All right, I think we can, if we can go back to the to the original slide. Laura.

Bentley 12:42
Good, one second, here.

Ortiz 12:43
And what I did want to mention is, when it comes to these geographies, if your agency serves areas that fall within both funders geographies, you can absolutely be considered under both funding pools during this review process. However, it’s important to note that agencies will not receive separate awards, so instead, being eligible in both geographies simply provides additional consideration and flexibility during the selection process. Let’s see here. And also keep in mind that you’re going to be required to check eligibility like we just, like we just went over and do the program requirements. We will be verifying eligibility in the areas that you work in. So we will do a part of the review process is verifying that you’re eligible in these areas. I think we’re ready for next slide. All right, eligibility geographies. The following states contain eligible geographies, so please use the map tool for exact locations within the state, so similar to what we just did, but this slide kind of outlines the states that have eligible geography. So you know, for HSBC, you have to be in one of those states, and for a KeyBank your state, it has to be one of those states in order to qualify. But you still need to go into the eligibility checker to make sure that the areas that you provide services or your office location is located within an eligible geography.

All right, I think we’re ready for the next slide. Laura. All right, so let’s talk about some benefits, obviously, starting with benefits to awardees, starting with the funding support. Selected agencies will receive subgrants to directly support their housing counseling services. These funds are intended to enhance your ability to serve clients, specifically those working towards homeownership. The. minimum award amount is $10,000; however, final award amounts may be, may vary depending on several factors, including the number of applications that we receive, the number of clients that your agency serves, and how well your work aligns with NCRC’s partnership with KeyBank and HSBC, I know $10,000 is the minimum amount. We haven’t determined a maximum amount yet, but last year’s awards, most of them, were significantly, significantly higher than that. So just keep that in mind. In addition to funding, there also is a strong knowledge building components. Awardees will participate in a virtual training session focused on their heir’s property challenges and strategies for preserving general generational wealth for clients. And to ensure agencies fully benefit from this opportunity, there’s a minimum benefit, a minimum attendance requirement of one member of leadership and one HUD certified housing counselor per agency. The training will be hosted by NCRC National Training Academy, and we have an anticipated date for this training of July 2026. We’ll send out additional information once we have a concrete date set. So be on the lookout for additional information on that training. All right. Next slide, let’s walk you through some of the key dates for this opportunity so that you can plan accordingly. This application period opens on March 23, 2026 and will remain open through May 1 of 2026. During these times, the agencies can submit their applications for consideration. Make sure that you stick to that application period. We don’t anticipate extending that period at all. In June 2026, NCRC will announce the selected awardees for both KeyBank and HSBC geographies. The performance period will officially begin July 2026, and also in July, there will be the required training for all attendees focused on the heir’s property that we discussed earlier. Midway through the performance period, an interim report will be due on January 30, 2027, and this will cover activities from the beginning of the performance period, so July 1 through December 31, of 2026. The full performance period will conclude in June of 2027, and finally, the closeout report will be due on July, July 31 of 2027 which will cover the second half of the performance period from January 1 through June 30 of 2027. You know, this time I gives you almost a full year to implement those services, along with some structured checkpoints and to track progress and outcomes.

Next slide, this slide outlines the key components required as part of the application. So it’s important to begin gathering some of these materials early if you don’t have them readily available. First, you’ll need to provide an application point of contact. There should be someone who could respond to any follow-up questions that we have during the review process. Next, you’ll include your organization’s address and confirm your eligibility based on the funders’ footprints that we discussed earlier. Also, we will need to you to upload your 9902 for FY 25 quarter four, covering the period from October 1, 2024 through September 30 of 2025. This helps to demonstrate your agency’s housing counseling activity and capacity. And one thing that I did want to mention is important that you upload the report that is already in the HUD HCS system, as opposed to maybe a 9902 that is generated from your client management system. We will only consider reports coming from the HUD HCS system. In addition, you’ll be required to submit a roster of all active HUD-certified housing counselors, including their HUD ID numbers and copies of their HUD certificates to ensure compliance and verify that your team meets program requirements. And lastly, you’ll confirm your agency’s ability to attend the required heir’s property training. Remember that at least one member of leadership and one HUD-certified counselor must participate.

All right. Next. Line. So upcoming key dates. Application period opens, March 23, 2026 at 10 pm. There’s going to be a link, a live link in the website that we just visited, ncrc.gov/fef that we shared earlier, and it closes may 1 of 2026 at 5 pm once again, no extensions, and there’s a posted a link there for FEF, the homepage for the FEF-HCS grant there at the bottom.

Yeah, let’s go to next slide. Okay, we also want to invite you to connect with us in person at the NCRC Just Economy Conference. This is taking place April 14 and 15th, here in Washington, DC. It’s a great place to it’s a great opportunity to engage directly with our team and connect with peers across the network that do a lot of really cool work and maybe similar work that you also do. And in addition to networking, the conference will feature a variety of workshops and sessions focused on topics like housing, community development, economic equity, and there’s a lot of valuable content that you can bring back to your organizations. And if you’re interested in attending or want to explore the full agenda of the workshops, you can visit ncrc.org/conference. Think there’s going to be a link in the chat for that as well. We’d love to see you there and continue the conversation in person.

All right, next, next, next slide. If you’re not already a member of NCRC, we encourage you to learn more about joining the network by visiting our membership page. Like Laura mentioned earlier, NCRC is a network of over 700 local and nonprofit and national nonprofits as well as government and educational institutions. And while funding opportunities like this, FEF-HCS series are a great benefit, membership also provides access to a wide range of additional resources, partnerships, training opportunities, advocacy efforts that can support and strengthen your organization’s work. I also want to emphasize that NCRC membership is required if you are selected for an award. So if you’re considering applying and are not currently a member, it’s a good idea to start exploring that process now.

And that’s it, just the best way to get in contact with us. If you have any questions regarding this, opportunity is to email impact@ncrc.org. You can also schedule a meeting directly with me through Zoom at my calendar link, which is listed here. I will also be holding and announcing and holding some open office hours during the application period, so that if you have any questions, you could just hop on and I can help to answer any questions that you may have at that time. But you know, you could feel free to email or request a meeting there on our calendar link as well. The NCRC, the FEF-HCS homepage is listed on here. The membership email is listed on there. In case you wanted to reach out to some of our membership teams to have them answer any questions regarding membership, benefits, costs, things of that nature. And that’s all I have. I think we can open it up for questions, Laura?

Bentley 24:05
Yeah, yeah. So I’ve been adding or answering a couple of those in the Q and A as I’ve been going as quickly as I can here, so I will raise a couple of those here for the group. One question that we had is, is there a difference between having a HUD-certified counselor doing work and being a HUD-certified housing counseling agency? There? There is a difference to that, and you must be a HUD-certified agency. So that would be something to verify and ensure that you have that certification.

Ortiz 24:39
Right. So you need to be a HUD-certified housing counseling agency, but you also must have a HUD-certified housing counselor employed at your organization in order to be able to participate, since they’re going to be the ones doing the pre purchase counseling.

Bentley 24:55
Exactly, yeah, we have a question, maybe just to reiterate, Luis, and I can go back to the eligibility checker here, but we have a question of if our office isn’t within an eligible area, but we service some areas that are in that eligible area, are they eligible to apply? So maybe just go over the if your office isn’t within the area,

Ortiz 25:16
Right, right, right. So if you’re so there’s two ways to kind of qualify for the for the for this opportunity. One is if your address, your office, is in an eligible geography. So you’re going to enter your information into one of the into both of these checkers, actually, because you should be applying for both the HSBC program and the KeyBank program. So enter your office address. If it’s in the blue area, then you’re good to go. But even if it’s not in the blue area, if you scroll out of the map, but using the little minus sign there to kind of expand the map some, you’re going to be able to see if other areas within or near your office that you are that are eligible, and if you’re currently servicing clients in that area, you still will be eligible to apply for for that opportunity, for that particular funder. We’ll do some. The application that you’re going to be completing will ask questions if you’re not, if your office isn’t in the in the eligible area, it’s going to ask a few other questions. If you say, well, our office isn’t in the isn’t eligible, but we do service some clients in the next town over which appears to be eligible. So we’ll ask a few more questions as far as how many clients or what percentage of your clients are in that eligible area. But I hope that answers your question.

Ortiz 27:00
Yeah, that’s that’s helpful. We have a question here. What’s the maximum amount that you can apply for? And I just want to flag that you won’t be asked to request a certain award amount that’s not part of the application. The award values are determined in the selection process based on the volume of applications and other factors from those who have applied. And so what we do know is that the minimum award is $10,000 but it can be more than that, again, depending on the selection process and the number of applications, et cetera. We have a question here. Luis, how can folks see if they are an NCRC member?

Ortiz 27:44
Um, that’s a good question. If you’re not sure if you’re an NCRC member. I think the best way to do it, should we give that membership@ncrc.org? I think just go ahead and send an email to that email address asking if you’re a member, and one of our membership teams will will respond and let you know if you are and if you’re not, they’ll also give you the steps that you need to take in order to apply for membership and just go over the benefits of being a member.

Bentley 28:20
Yeah, exactly. And so we’ll leave that up there for any folks who either want to double-check on their membership status. Aren’t sure if it’s still active, or if you’re not, you know, familiar with us, you’d like to learn more about joining. That’s the that’s the place to go. We have a question here. Would we qualify for a sub-grantee of a HUD intermediary? Yes, you would just note that you’ll need to apply like do the application yourself, under your agency name, not related to your intermediary. So the grant will go directly to you if you’re awarded, and if you are an intermediary, or thinking about your sub-grantees and your network, we’d love for you to share the word with them. An intermediary is not able to apply on behalf of its its agency, so each agency would need to apply separately and be assessed separately that see here, and there’s a question, does an organization need to use their main address is their location, or can they use any physical building location if they have multiple the address that you’re going to want to use is your headquarters. So your office headquarters, one that appears on your 9902 and is associated with your organization with HUD. But as Luis had mentioned, if again, you service a different area as well that’s also eligible, you can just go through that second process of noting the percentage of your clients that you serve in the eligible blue areas as well.

Okay, let me see, Luis, what else might be new here? There’s a question to put the eligibility link in the chat. That’s the FEF homepage. So for folks who are looking at this current slide to your bottom left, the FEF homepage, ncrc.org/fef, that’s where the the checkers are located.

Ortiz 30:28
Where the checkers are located. That’s going to be also where the application link will be located once it opens on the 23rd.

Bentley 30:38
Exactly. Yeah, let’s see, there’s a question for organizations who are part of the previous cohort and receive funding in previous years, you are able to receive funding again through this current round. And there’s a question about how we evaluate organizations in that situation. Obviously, we’re looking for current grantees who have been timely in their reporting and correctly carrying out the grant requirements for this year in order to be eligible for the upcoming application. So bear that in mind, but there is no inability to apply from one year to the next, so we invite you to apply again. Let me see, there’s a question, if there’s going to be an opportunity to apply for funds in future years. Do you want to just mention the multiple year structure, Luis.

Ortiz 31:42
Yeah, yeah. So this is definitely a three year, three year opportunity. We’re already well into the 2025 round, closing it out here in a couple of months. 2026 rounding is opening here in March, and we’ll definitely have a round in 2027 with similar award amount. So, so definitely another opportunity next year.

Bentley 32:06
Yeah, absolutely. Question, if the PowerPoint will be available, this recording is going to be added to the FEF website again. So if you check back there, and you know, a couple of days, our team will be able to add it back up there, and most of the information, if not all of it that you’ve seen in the slides is actually on the website, already in written form as well. So that would be a great resource for folks who are looking for the slides in the next couple minutes. A couple more questions. Yeah, go ahead. Luis.

Ortiz 32:49
I was just going to say I see a question relating to census tracks, and if we can use to that to determine how many clients would they typically serve in that area, or is it enough to confirm that they service that particular area that’s eligible?

Bentley 33:09
Yeah, you will need to list the percentage of clients that you serve in those areas. So depending on your different record keeping systems, how you keep track of your clients, and I would leave that to you to determine what would be the most effective way for you to determine but it’s within your client population. So if you serve 100 clients in a year, and looking at the neighborhoods that are marked blue, you see, okay, some of those clients, let’s say 20 of our clients this past year are in those neighborhoods, then you’ll be able to say 20% on your application, and just know that in the if you are awarded, the funding will need to be used in those specific eligible neighborhoods, and we will be doing kind of a sample set of that in your reporting. So do make sure that you are operating already in those areas, as that will be verified, and that’s where the grant funding needs to be used. Luis, we have a question about for organizations that do more comprehensive housing counseling beyond pre-purchase, such as foreclosure or rental counseling, are those services eligible to include in our accounts under this grant?

Ortiz 34:21
Not, not for this particular grant, the FEF-HCS series primarily focuses on pre-purchase counseling with a with an emphasis on increasing homeownership in LMI communities so no rental, no foreclosure in this particular opportunity. Those can be those services are supported by the HUD comprehensive housing counseling grant, and definitely others are focused on that as well, but not for this particular service.

Bentley 34:57
Absolutely and. Then, okay, we have just kind of to drive this point home regarding the eligibility locations. We have a question of my agency is just 40 feet outside of the service area. It’s coming up ineligible. Do I have to do the alternate way you do so in this case, because your grant funding is something that we need to be able to have a dedicated process for and make sure that that process is equal for everyone, and kind of has distinct guidelines that are in line with the agreements that we have with KeyBank and HSBC. If you are, if your office is showing up as ineligible in the checker, you do need to do that alternative method. And so we’ve been able to work since last year, where we were unfortunately only able to go off of ineligible or eligible. We’ve been able to work through this year to add that added flexibility. So that is the alternative option. And if you’re not showing up as eligible through that checker with your office address for your 9902, you are going to need to do that alternative method, and we appreciate your effort in doing that, and are excited to be able to offer that as an opportunity this year for some folks who weren’t able to access last year’s funding pool.

I’m going to glance in here for anything else. If there is a question that you have that’s very specific to your particular agency, again, I will pop back to our information page and leave that up as I’m glancing through again, and we are more than happy to help you determine specifically any answers to your questions or any situation that you’re currently dealing with, there’s a question about if the heir’s property training that is required is going to be virtual, and it will be virtual, just going to confirm that. There’s a question about, what if I’m not currently operating in the surface areas, but I plan to expand going forward into that area. Am I eligible? You’re not eligible for this round. You do need to already be serving clients in that area. But as Luis mentioned, there will be an upcoming round next year as well, and so in that case, you would be eligible to apply at that point when you do have clients already in those service areas. And I think with that, I think that’s all of the questions here without duplicating different answers. So I’ll give it a couple more seconds here. But with that, we’ve covered everything. So again, everyone, thanks for joining, and you have our information there. Impact@ncrc.org is how you can reach Luis, who will again be the point person on this particular program. And as he’s mentioned there, his Calendly is also available. So we really appreciate your interest in this program. We look forward to your applications and look forward to working with you as well, moving forward. And thank you again for the work that you do for this important pre-purchase work and helping folks build wealth through their housing. So thank you again, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.

April 1 , 2:00 pm EDT – 3:00 pm EDT

The Fellowship for Equitable Development (FED) is an 8-month paid program that connects top-tier Master’s and Ph.D. students with leading community development organizations to cultivate the “leaders of tomorrow.” Through this initiative, fellows receive a $20,000 stipend to work approximately 20 hours per week on high-impact projects addressing systemic challenges like climate change, wealth disparities, and housing shortages. By bridging the gap between academic research and grassroots advocacy, the program empowers participants to create tangible solutions for low-to-moderate income and BIPOC communities while gaining professional experience and access to the NCRC’s national network.

Speakers:

• Laura Bentley, Director, Grant Administration, Community Impact, NCRC
• Dia Henderson, Program Manager, Community Impact, NCRC

March 18 , 2:00 pm EDT

HUD-approved housing counseling agencies: Join us for an informational webinar to learn more about the application process to receive grant support for your direct service to clients, while building your agency’s knowledge on how to address heirs’ property challenges and ensure your homebuying clients retain their intergenerational wealth.

The Field Empowerment Fund (FEF) empowers NCRC network members to level up established service lines.

The Housing Counseling Services series within FEF supports HUD-approved housing counseling agencies in building know-how for their staff and driving homeownership opportunities for their clients, such as through pre- and post-purchase counseling.

Applications are open from March 23, 2026 – May 1, 2026.

Speakers:

• Laura Bentley, Director of Grant Administration
• Luis Ortiz, Program Manager

Learn more about the application process to host a graduate student for a member-designed, 9-month fellowship project that drives your organization’s mission forward.

The fellowship pairs innovative, graduate-level talent with NCRC members to address pressing issues such as climate resilience, affordable housing, food and water security, community health & wellness, wealth building, small business development, and workforce development. Fellows will spearhead a project that the host organization would otherwise be unable to undertake, while gaining real-world experience and receiving a $20,000 stipend.

Member applications for the 2026 Fellowship for Equitable Development are open from February 3-27, 2026.

Speakers

Laura Bentley, Director, Grant Administration, Community Impact, NCRC
Dia Henderson, Program Manager, Community Impact, NCRC

Transcript:

NCRC video transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. They are lightly edited for style and clarity.

Bentley 0:07
Hello, everyone. We’re going to get started now. Thank you so much for joining us today and for your interest in the Fellowship for Equitable Development. This is our member informational webinar for those who are interested in becoming hosts for the fellowship for the 2026 cohort, thanks for joining us. As we advance to the next slide, you can please make sure to introduce yourself in the chat, and we will get going. So first, some housekeeping notes. First, is that the NCRC Code of Conduct applies to this as well as all gatherings. Secondly, we did not allow AI chatbots to join the call. However, the call will be available to attendees afterwards on our fellowship homepage, so it will be recorded and made available to you all. And of course, if you do have any questions, you can submit those via the Q and A module at the bottom of the Zoom screen. We’re going to answer as many of those as we can at the end of the session, and we’ll be sharing our contact information as well, so you can always follow up if anything else comes up after the session. And lastly, you’ll see at the bottom left, there some essential links and tags to follow us and to be able to engage with our content at NCRC. And at the very bottom there, you will see the homepage for the fellowship specifically, so that’s where the recording will be made available, as well as all information around the fellowship. With that we will get going.

So first, for those of you who may not be familiar, NCRC is the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. We are a national nonprofit organization with over 700 members as part of our coalition, and we focus on a variety of different areas, from health equity to research, housing counseling and policy, all under the same umbrella and with the same goal of building wealth in low-wealth communities across the nation. So our agenda for today we’ll be going over the community impact team introductions. We’ll be talking about the fellowship. We’ll be going into the role of host organizations for members. We’ll be talking about benefits for members to becoming a host organization, examples of past products/ projects, so you can get a feel for those. We’ll be going through the fellowship timeline in more detail, and then we’ll be giving you a preview of what to expect in the host application. And then, of course, we’ll have time for Q and A at the end.

So next, my name is Laura Bentley, and I’m the director of grant administration with NCRC and part of the community impact team. And so in addition on our team, we have Luis Ortiz, one of our program managers, and also Dia Henderson, our other program manager within community impact, and she is the lead for the fellowship program, using the acronym FED for Fellowship for Equitable Development. So you’ll see that acronym coming up a fair bit. And Dia will be both the lead on this program, your main point of contact, and she’s joining me on this presentation to take it from here, so I’ll pass it to you, Dia.

Henderson 3:14
Thank you, Laura. Hi everybody like Laura said, I am Dia Henderson. I’m one of the program managers for community impact, and again, I am the FED lead and your primary contact for the fellowship. So I just wanted to give everyone an idea of what exactly the fellowship is. The Fellowship for Equitable Development is a program that prepares our next generation of community development leaders to help address the current and future challenges that we all are facing now by advancing programs that you all propose through housing, small business and workforce development, through direct community impact and a pipeline development with community members. So this is an eight-month paid fellowship for graduate students, graduate students, specifically graduate students and above. So that also includes our doctor and PhD students, MBA students also. So this eight-month paid fellowship helps the fellow not only learn more about this industry, but also helps drive your mission forward via a member design community development project. These projects will address affordable housing, small business development, climate resilience, community health and wellness, racial wealth building and so much more. So we are prioritizing fellowship projects that reflect this framework that we like to use. We are looking for projects that aim to move the needle on racial wealth building, community health and wellness, environmental justice through the avenues of housing, small business and economic mobility for BIPOC and LMI communities in our FED target geographies, which I will touch on literally in the next slide. So the. Is our priority geography, our target areas that we are prioritizing for this upcoming fellowship. Our areas include Buffalo, New York, Denver, Colorado, Detroit, Michigan, Hartford, Connecticut, Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, North Carolina, Tacoma, Washington, Tennessee, the overall, and then Texas and Washington, DC, we are asking that you all have physical office locations in these areas, because there is a in person aspect to these placements, and it is one of our biggest requirements for the fellowship. I’ll get more into why we’re having in-person placements, but as of right now, we would love for you to know that we will like you to have physical locations in these areas.

So what is your role as a host? So for next year or this upcoming cohort, we are asking that, as a host, you supervise the fellow and track their deliverables. I’ll touch more on deliverables when we get into content, but these are deliverables that you all set for your fellow, and we ask that you track their deliverables and make sure that they are following the plan to execute the mission or execute your project, and advocate for your mission, for your organization. We also ask that you provide opportunities for in-person team connection. We found that when the fellow has an opportunity, opportunity to be in person with their host organization, they not only are building that bond with a team, but also getting that professional development of being able to work with the team and have resources and being on the ground to really see the communities that we are all working for. We also ask that you administer a $20,000 stipend to the fellow, along with respecting their 20 hours per week, part-time commitment. Again, these are graduate or higher-level students, so they do have commitment to school. So we also, we want to emphasize that you really do respect that 20 hours a week. And then finally, we ask that you turn in two reports as a host, one being the interim report and the second being a closeout report at the end of the fellowship program.

So what are your benefits? What are you getting out of this? You get to collaborate with new talent to help advance your organization’s mission. You also get to empower the next generation of community development leaders and really teach them what it means to work for and towards a just economy, alongside really pushing your mission and what drives you all’s organization every day, also, you will receive a $5,000 administrative stipend for your own use. And then finally, there’s little to no cost to do this program. This program really is to highlight you as an organization, but also really, like we said, empower that next generation and all we really are asking for is your time and commitment to not only the fellow, but to NCRC.

I wanted to give you all an idea of what some of the projects that you propose can look like. So here are some past projects that we have. So we have a fellow in Portland, Oregon right now working with Housing Oregon to really advance and advocate for Black homeownership and Black housing and really closing that racial wealth gap for BIPOC communities in the Portland, Oregon area. We also have a fellow right now in Connecticut, New Haven, to be specific, with the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven Mission Investment Company. This fellow has been doing some research, been looking for resources and also doing some technical assistance for new and small businesses within the area, focusing on BIPOC, SEDI and women owned organization, women-owned small businesses, and really helping them find those resources for funding. And then finally, we have Hip Hop Caucus, where they have a fellow currently working on their green initiative for green financing and really supporting the bank black Green campaign by doing some research, and also their fellow has been doing some advocacy work and doing some speaking engagements, also to really advocate, to help mobilize investments into MDIs and CDFIs, and like I said, the green financing.

So just to break down the application process right now, NCRC members will apply. Then we will have some time to review applications and select those projects. After that, our students will select, pick from those projects. They will select which project they would like to apply to, and they will apply. The top candidates we interview by us, and then we will take some of those top candidates and have you all interview them, and you will come back with your selections. After selections, we would have a NCRC member and student onboarding / orientation process. And then come September, I believe the fellowship will commence. Yes, so just to give you all some more specific times on that timeline, February is when your host application will open. March is when we will do that selection of hosts and projects. April is the time when the fellows will apply. Come May, we will start doing the finalist selections, and then by the end of May, I hope to have you know a few finalists for you all to interview. So come June, you would have those interviews with those finalists. You would tell me what those who your fellow would be. I would send that fellow an award letter and an agreement to sign for both you and the fellow. Then come August, the pre-launch orientation meeting, just to go over some housekeeping and you know the general rules. September is when the official fellowship will start. In between, there we’ll have some check-ins and some trainings for the fellows. February will be our interim report being due, and then may is our busier time. That’s when we have our just economy conference, where students are required, and we highly encourage our host to join. We also have the time when our fellowship will be ending, and then our closeout reports will be due also. So again, your fellow, your application process is from February 3 through the 27th just to give you an idea of what that content will look like, we’re asking for some contact information. We’re also asking, Where are you so in regards to those target areas that I showed earlier, like I said, we will be prioritizing those areas on that list. But that does not mean that we are not encouraging other folk to apply that are not necessarily in those target areas. So we do want to know where you all are.

We also are asking for the supervisor or the like, the point of contact, for the supervisor, for the fellow, alongside what is your full-time staff and what is your capacity? We also are asking for Sorry, I have like a cold, so I’m trying to get through this. But we also are asking you to describe your project and how that moves the needle on community development and for a just economy. So referring back to that framework that I showed earlier, where on that framework do you all in your project live? We’re also asking for the fellow title and summary of their main responsibilities. We’re asking that you all just don’t say NCRC fellowship. We want you know our fellows to have a real title and have something that they can really represent on their resume, alongside some of the key and core responsibilities that they will have. Then we are looking at having you all submit a work plan, which I will show in just a bit. That work plan basically will break down exactly where our fellows should be by month or by quarter, while also showing us those deliverables that we talked about earlier. We also ask that you give us a descriptive insight of what your schedule looks like if you’re fully in-person, or if you’re a hybrid office, what that would look like. And then also what your preferred dates or days you will want your fellows to be in the office. We just want that schedule so we can match it to their schedule. And then also, we’re looking for onboarding, training and supervision plans. So what is that going to look like when you all meeting? When would they expect to get paid? How long would the training take? Are you going to take a week before the official fellowship starts? Are you going to take the first week? Just so we have an idea of how to prepare our fellows. And then finally, if you have any additional funding sources for this project, please let us know we would love to to have some insight.

So I’m going to show you all our work plan template, if you can give me one second. So this is our work plan. We ask that you all resubmit this as an Excel through the application, we will be providing this template on the application, so just download it and then fill it out and resubmit. But essentially, it comes with a blank version and just a reference version or example. So you have some idea of what to report on or what to fill out. But up here, we ask that you give us some detailed deliverables that you would like to be, you know, have done by the end of the fellowship time. And then also this blue section here is the full work plan. This is where you’ll tell us the milestones and activities that the fellow will be completing month by month, just so when you all check in, you have something to reference going back to like, if you’re in November and you’re looking you’re reflecting on September and October, just making sure that those milestones and activities that you did record are done. Or if there needs to be a pivot, you have a reference point. We have put the key dates of the closeout reports in here, and then we also have the requirements at the bottom. So again, remember, in that 20-hour per week commitment, and that when you are filling this out, just try to be realistic in that sense of how much capacity and work can a graduate-level student do over the course of the next eight months. So again, here’s that, that example for reference. If you have any questions or, you know, get stuck with what this should look like. We’ve tried to break it down by month, but if it works better to break it down by quarter or by a different timeline, that’s still perfectly fine. Again, I ask that you submit this via Excel and not a PDF, so I will reshare really quickly.

So again, some of those key dates for you all would be for the host application. It opens February 3 at 9 am Eastern and closes promptly at 5 pm eastern on the 27, of February. The application link will be posted on our homepage for the fellowship, where you all went to press to watch the to register for the webinar. That’s where we’re going to put the application. So come the third please be on the lookout for that, and that is where you can apply. We also ask that you stay connected with us, so if you have any specific questions, if you could just contact us at impact@ncrc.org, I will try to get back to you as soon as possible, hopefully I answer most of the questions here, or you know, after this, we will have our Q A session. But if you have any specific questions or just need some clarification, please feel free to reach out to us. And again, our fellowship homepage has some details about the fellowship. Also that we have host testimonials. We have just a breakdown of the timeline there, also, and then also our specific description of the fellowship with those target areas also. We also, I’m not sure if Ralph is on here, but we also have our membership email. So if you have any specific questions about membership, or about your specific membership, please email membership@ncrc.org if you’re not yet a member, one thing about this program, it is required that you, as a host organization must be a NCRC member. So if you’re not yet a member, please feel free to go to ncrc.org/join and make sure you join our membership.

Cyrus 17:30
Yeah. The one thing I was also going to add is, if you want to know about other membership benefits as well, feel free to reach out to myself or my colleague at membership@ncrc.org. We’re happy to talk more about what other membership benefits you’ll be able to utilize.

Henderson 17:52
Thank you, Ralph. And then also quick reminder that we have our annual just economy conference coming up April 14 through the 15th. Here at Washington Hilton, here at the Washington Hilton in DC, we also have Hill day where folks get to really get on the ground and get to talk to our officials on April 16. So I would encourage you all, if you’re interested, to really look into that and go to ncrc.org/conference, to get more information and to register for the conference. So I just wanted to take this time to answer any questions that might be in the chat. I can’t physically see the chat, so if somebody can read some of the questions for me, that’d be great. But I’m here to answer any questions you may have.

Bentley 18:41
Yeah, I can pop in there to share some of those around the the Q amp a I have been answering those in writing, so we’ll go over a couple of the the big ones here, and feel free to continue to use the Q amp a module to submit your questions at the same time as we begin to go over these, I believe Haley will be adding into the chat a quick survey for you all to share your feedback on how this session is and so we continue to improve these sessions going forward. So please feel free to see that popping up in the chat and to answer that. Okay, so going through some questions here. The first question, Dia, could you go back to the section that talks about the timeline for the fellowship application, and could you just clarify, maybe go over that process again? I think the that blue flow chart, this one, okay, there’s just a question in the chat, if you could clarify that process.

Henderson 19:44
Yeah, for sure. So come February, you all would be applying. Once February is over, and I’ve already, you know, evaluated some of the or all of them, actually, all of the applications, we would then look at the rubric make sure that all the requirements are met. We. Would then select our host organizations or our projects. From there, we would make a project profile to put on our website for our students to see. Our students will then apply for their fellowship while also evaluating your project. So they’ll pick a project, and then they’ll also put it like in their application the top candidates for each project will be interviewed. After we interview them, we also send our top one to three candidates, depending on how many people apply, one to three candidates to you all to interview. Once you come back with your notes, we will all make the final decision. The fellow be notified. We will have those agreements signed. And then around August, we will do a onboarding slash orientation for both the member or host organizations and also the students. And then September, beginning of September, that’s when the fellowship starts.

Bentley 20:57
Thanks. That’s great. Let’s see here. We have a question of, will proposals be accepted outside of the priority areas?

Henderson 21:07
Yes. So we, again, we are prioritizing those that are in those target geographies. However, we will be considering and looking at proposals and projects from other areas, also.

Bentley 21:20
Awesome. Thank you. Could you share that slide just with the geographies? I think some folks were hoping to see those again and all. Oh, yeah, go ahead

Henderson 21:28
Also, like I mentioned at the end on our fellowship homepage, these same geographies are there too for your reference. Wonderful.

Bentley 21:38
Thanks. And there was a question about, what’s the process to become a prioritized NCRC geography? So that’s not an application process at this time. Those target geographies are established per cohort year. So this is just related to the 2026, fellowship cohort. Those were established to focus the NCRC resources and the grant funds that we have available for this to maximize local impact. And so these target geographies were determined following a research assessment that include a variety of factors, including demographics, housing affordability, rental costs, the impact of extreme weather events and bank presence across US geographies as well as other factors. And so just to be aware that these analyzes will continue to occur in the future, and so they may also result in different geographies for future cohorts. But again, as Zia mentioned, if you’re not located in one of these priority geographies and you’re still interested, please do apply. We just want you to know that these are the areas that would be prioritized for this particular cohort. And let’s see. We do have a question here, Dia, will you consider fellow candidates that are referred to by the prospective host organization?

Henderson 22:55
Yes, please. We are really working with our universities right now, but also our host organizations to recommend any specific people and or work with their local universities to really put this program out there. So if you do have someone that you want to recommend, please encourage them to apply, and we will review their application.

Bentley 23:18
Thank you. Let’s see here. There’s a question of, will the presentation be shared with all participants? That’s been mentioned? It’ll be on the fellowship homepage. Maybe Dia if you want to pop back to that end slide with the fellowship homepage listed there. That’s where all of this information will be available too. So if you’re wondering when Will, where will the application be posted, or what’s the date on a particular thing, that information will always be on that homepage. So feel free to use that as your as your one stop resource, as well as obviously letting us know if you have any questions. Let’s see here, we have a question on whether or not the project needs to focus on one community in particular, just as we were talking about the focus geographies, our hope is to provide localized impact in those geographies. And so certainly, we’d be looking for proposals where that is where the impact is located. So if you do have multiple, perhaps footprints that your organization covers. It would be ideal if the fellowship project is focused on one in our target geographies, and again, if you’re outside of those geographies, then obviously that does not apply. It can focus on multiple geographies as well. If you have something that covers a number of different areas, so that was just something to bear in mind. If you’re able to tune into some of those target geographies, that is where our focus is, and if not, you can also suggest your proposal as it is. Let’s see here, Dia, can you just talk a little bit about the payment? So there’s a question you know, Will. Most organizations be responsible for paying the fellow from their own funds. Can you just go over a little bit about the funding breakdown and who receives what and who pay with the money?

Henderson 25:10
Question, yeah. So as far as payment we, as NCRC, we give you all the 20, $20,000 type in for the fellow, and it is up to you to distribute that. So that’s why, when I mentioned here we are, so when I mentioned the onboarding, training and supervision plan that would include payment, also, if you plan on having them as a What is it, w2 worker or a contractor, and how they will be paid? So that sometimes we have folks that add the fellow to their current payroll, whether that be bi-weekly or bi-monthly, or we do have a few months few folks that also do, like every quarter they get paid. So that’s just something that you as an organization will have to work with your finance department. But also, we’ve had a few people work with the student to see the most beneficial and optimal way to be paid. But at the end of the day, you all are paying that stipend does not come from, like we don’t directly pay the fellow. You all would pay the fellow with the funds that we give you.

Bentley 26:15
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that highlights point that this is a essentially a no-cost program, right? We will be providing the funds that you will pass through to the fellow, and we also provide an administrative stipend that $5,000 that dia mentioned to help offset any administrative costs associated with providing payroll services to the fellow, etc. Let’s see that’s coming through to most of the questions. If you did happen to post something in the chat and it hasn’t been answered, please go ahead and put that into the Q and A.

Henderson 26:53
And again, if you haven’t had the time to Haley dropped a survey in the chat, and we would love if you could fill that out for us, please. Thank you.

Bentley 27:04
And then lastly, there’s a question about accessibility to students with disabilities. Regarding the application, to the best of our understanding, it is accessible to folks. If there’s any concern that anyone may have in terms of accessing the application, please let us know so that we can continue to improve how the application is set up. So we’d be happy to get any additional questions on that specifically as well. Not seeing any additional questions. So maybe we can just pop to that contact page again, so that for all of you to be aware, of course, we’re not going anywhere, you can always find us at impact@ncrc.org, and we’d be happy to answer any other questions that do come out, Now, I’ll pass it to you to close this out to you again.

Henderson 28:06
Just want to remind everybody to please join us at this year’s just economy conference at the Hilton, at the Washington Hilton in DC, and also Hill Day, if you are able to make it again, that registration link would be ncrc.org/conference, I would like to thank everybody for joining us today. Again. If you have any specific questions, please reach out to myself or Laura at that impact@ncrc.org I’m here to answer any questions. I do appreciate everyone for considering being a host organization for the fellowship program, and I hope to hear from you all, and I look forward to reading everybody’s application.

Housing counselors provide no to low-cost financial home-buying and foreclosure prevention education services to anyone who needs support. Yet, amid a deepening housing crisis, they remain a scarce resource. There are roughly 4,000 housing counselors across the country, or one housing counselor for every 22,000 potential homebuyers looking for assistance. Because these services are federally funded and offered at no cost to consumers, housing counselors are widely regarded as an unbiased and trusted resource. They can guide families through the home-buying process without the pressure to sell predatory loan products with interest rates outside of families’ means. 

Housing counseling guidance has never been more essential. Home prices continue to outpace wages in many states, while mortgage rates remain well above pre-pandemic levels and proposed policy changes—such as the privatization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—could further destabilize the housing market. Home foreclosures are also continuing to rise, increasing to 19% since October 2024. These compounding obstacles are inhibiting more low- and moderate-income (LMI) families from otherwise securing and maintaining stable housing.  

NCRC is proud to support housing counselors nationwide as a HUD intermediary via our Housing Counseling Network (HCN) through our direct grant administration services. NCRC fosters deep relationships with our 24 network agencies by delivering targeted technical assistance to boost their capacity for impact within their communities. HCN housing counselors provide critical guidance and educational training to over 14,000 households each year. Through our National Training Academy, NCRC provides a breadth of technical assistance courses to housing counseling agencies across the country, training nearly 40% of all counselors nationwide annually on emerging best practices to better serve families in need. 

The benefits of working with a housing counselor are clear. In 2024 alone, housing counselors supported 35,000 families in purchasing homes, ensured over 12,700 families avoided eviction and helped over 19,500 avoid defaulting on their mortgages. Research also demonstrates that households that receive pre-home purchase counseling have a 20% lower chance of experiencing foreclosure. These outcomes are possible because HUD-certified housing counselors offer deep expertise in affordability assessments, budgeting and credit-building strategies that promote long-term financial stability. 

While many provisions in the Road to Housing Act are helpful and potentially transformative for LMI communities, the included proposal to penalize housing counseling agencies based on homebuyer outcomes warrants scrutiny. Such policies discourage agencies from providing counseling to families who are most vulnerable, such as those in climate-risk areas, seniors or families facing sudden medical crisis.  

We must increase investment in housing counseling programs, not decrease it. This is a pivotal moment. Private and public funders need to continue providing housing counseling agencies with the resources they need to continue the work of economically building up the communities that they serve.  

More than 4,000 housing counselors across all 50 states stand ready to support Americans in navigating a challenging housing market. If we are serious about protecting the American dream of homeownership, we must invest in the counselors who help make it possible. 

Laura Bentley is the Director of Grant Administration for NCRC’s Community Impact team.

Photo credit: Tierra Mallorca via Upsplash.

January 28 , 2:00 pm EST – 3:00 pm EST

NCRC members: Join us for an informational webinar to learn more about the application process to host a graduate student for a member-designed, 9-month fellowship project that drives your organization’s mission forward.

The fellowship pairs innovative, graduate-level talent with NCRC members to address pressing issues such as climate resilience, affordable housing, food and water security, community health & wellness, wealth building, small business development, and workforce development. Fellows will spearhead a project that the host organization would otherwise be unable to undertake, while gaining real-world experience and receiving a $20,000 stipend.

Member applications for the 2026 Fellowship for Equitable Development are open from February 3-27, 2026.

Speakers:

• Laura Bentley, Director, Grant Administration, Community Impact, NCRC
• Dia Henderson, Program Manager, Community Impact, NCRC

Through HCN, NCRC serves as the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) intermediary for HUD-approved housing counseling agencies. Since 2008, NCRC has been a trusted intermediary for many dedicated housing counseling agencies across the country, with the current network including 25 agencies. NCRC staff work closely with agencies to provide technical assistance and subgrant opportunities as well as facilitate network-building and shared learning opportunities between agencies.

“NCRC looks forward to expanding our service as a HUD intermediary to additional agencies across the country,”  said NCRC’s Director of Community Impact Laura Bentley. “Now more than ever, we are dedicated to supporting housing counseling agencies in their critical work to build homeownership and generational wealth for their communities and protect families from foreclosures. As a HUD intermediary, we are pleased to provide capacity-boosting resources and funding opportunities to our network agencies that can further amplify their impact.”

While HCN has a focus on increasing network participation for agencies working with rural populations during this round of selections, all HUD-approved housing counseling agencies are encouraged to apply.

For additional information on HCN and how to enroll, watch our webinar from May 19. 

All applications should be submitted through NCRC’s online portal no later than 5 pm ET on August 31, 2025.

Questions regarding this opportunity should be emailed to impact@ncrc.org, with the subject line “HCN.”

June 18, 2025 , 9:00 am EDT – 4:00 pm EDT

Join Laura Bentley NCRC Director of Grants Administration at The second annual District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency Homeownership Conference will convene a robust lineup of community stakeholders, partners, and community activists looking to connect, collaborate, and advocate for the implementation and expansion of accessible homeownership and homebuyer programs within the District.