NeighborWorks America’s Stable Communities Program is seeking student projects related to community stabilization and neighborhood revitalization for poster presentations at the NeighborWorks Training Institute Symposium: “Rising to the Challenge: Stabilizing Communities in the Wake of Foreclosure” to be held on December 9th in the Washington, D.C. Metro area. Proposals may be submitted by current or recent graduate school students and should address community stabilization and neighborhood revitalization efforts, particularly in areas impacted by the foreclosure crisis.

Three proposals will be selected and three winning students will each receive a full tuition scholarship to the December NeighborWorks Training Institute on December 7-11, 2009 to attend the courses of their choice, plus admission to the Symposium, travel, and shared lodging. For posters with more than one author, only the first author will be invited to attend the Institute. Posters presenting the winning projects will be displayed throughout the Symposium with designated times for students to interact with Symposium participants, and then moved to the exhibit area for the remainder of the week.

The NeighborWorks Training Institute is the premiere training venue for community development professionals, with a portfolio of over 200 courses in ten areas of study. In addition to the Symposium, the Institute features free afternoon workshops on current topics in community development and a networking reception with live entertainment. For more details about the December NeighborWorks Training Institute, including the schedule of available courses, please visit http://nw.org/network/training/upcoming/DCNTI09.asp.

Winners will be notified no later than October 9th and provided with detailed poster guidelines. Posters should be on 4’ X 4’ poster boards, and should feature original projects including research studies, studio projects, or independent study relevant to a community development practitioner audience. Special consideration will be given to proposals that demonstrate the benefits of partnerships between nonprofit organizations and universities in mitigating the effects of foreclosure or revitalizing distressed neighborhoods.