The nonprofit Neighborhood Pets Outreach and Resource Center was founded in 2016 by animal lover Becca Britton, who has previously co-founded City Dogs (which she left in other capable hands) to provide services ranging from spaying and neutering to low-cost vet services, to flea medicine to a food pantry to low-income pet owners, facing the possibility of having to give up their beloved animal companion. It’s located in one of Cleveland’s poorest neighborhoods, Slavic Village, offering hope to people there.
The Washington D.C-based research and education nonprofit, the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI), which looks at how animals improve people’s health and well-being, has given Neighborhood Pets its 2025 Human Animal Bond Innovation Award in Public Service. The awards honor organizations and individuals whose programs help to build a more pet-friendly society
Neighborhood Pets Outreach & Resource Center embodies the spirit of whole-person care, and shows how meeting both pet and human care needs helps families and communities thrive—serving as an important model for other organizations to follow,” says HABRI president Steve Feldman.
Learn more about the work of Neighborhood Pets at neighborhoodpetscle.org.