One type of home, Discovery Park, Seattle, WA

Housing and health care may be the right and left Achilles Heels of the US economy.  But there is a C word that could serve as the antidote to both of them: community.  It takes an engaged community to pool together human, environmental, and capital resources to provide the care for each other across generations, and it takes community involvement to collaborate on a solution for housing in the 21st century.  The American Dream is changing, and home ownership is not an option for many, especially young people saddled with student loan debt.  Yet, there is also a lack of quality, affordable rentals.  Problems are opportunities on the flip side, and we need a game changer and renewed interest on how much home does matter in America and beyond.

Enterprise Community Partners and Edward Norton teamed up to offer this message on home as a new beginning, a second chance, or where it all starts.

A place to call home comes in many shapes and sizes.  Home is the foundation of community, but a secure future for home requires the rebuilding of a national paradigm on the security that comes only through establishing a roof over one’s head and, more important, comfort in knowing that one’s home will not be taken away.

Home Matters is a movement uniting America around Home as the pace where lives and families thrive, and as the bedrock for a stronger nation.  However, a movement is nothing without voices from across the country, speaking about their story of home.

Community Frameworks is sponsoring a video contest for cash prizes of $500, $300, and $200 this spring.  The theme of the video: What is home to you?  Tell us in 3 minutes or less, and share your story with your community.  We know that home is not a singular term, but how often are its many forms expressed in a community dialogue?

Home can be many shapes and sizes.  It can be stationary, or it can be mobile.  Home is the cornerstone of our lives, where we love our families, where we begin and end each day.  Home can be a physical place, or a state of mind.

​What do you call home?  What does it look like, who is a part of your home, and how does it make you feel?

​Share your home in words, images, and video.  Enter Community Frameworks’ NeighborWorks Week video contest this spring for your chance to win cash prizes.  Become part of a national dialogue around the power of home to revitalize our neighborhoods and build a secure future for our children and their children.

Working together, we can renew the power of home.