The Neighborhood Improvement Association (NIA) is a community development corporation established in 1996 to promote positive change in distressed communities by improving physical, economic, and social conditions. This holistic view represents NIA’s "theory of change" as it relates to neighborhood transformation and community development. Our theory of change illuminates the notion that poor and distressed communities have intrinsic assets and values that can be built upon to eradicate conditions associated with poverty, unemployment, lack of skills, crime, drug abuse and a sense of hopelessness.