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Community Development Field
Shelterforce considers “community development” to be an extremely broad term. But there are still many conversations about the ways in which that broad work happens. Comprehensively or in coalitions of specialized organizations? Locally or regionally? Place or people? While the answers to all of these are usually “both,” there are many conversations to be had about “how.”
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Which Way Community Development?
The community development field is in an interesting and challenging spot right now. Our new Under the Lens series zooms in and explores this moment in the field.
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How to Temper the Influence of Private Equity in Manufactured Housing
The risk of onerous lot rent increases and the fear of eviction are more threatening than ever as private equity enters the manufactured housing market.
It Doesn’t Matter if Your Neighborhood Is Going to Eventually Gentrify
“We could use some gentrification here.” Let’s never say this—we must refrain from debating the long-term likelihood of gentrification in distressed places.
Nonprofit Centers: Hubs for Connection and Collaboration
To understand nonprofit centers and how they achieve their impact, it’s helpful to think of them in layers: the building as an asset, the building as a program, and the building as a platform for collaboration.
Prioritizing Inclusion and Equity in the Next Generation of Mixed-Income Communities
An introduction to a new series of essays on mixed income communities that will comprise the fifth volume in the San Francisco Fed’s ‘What Works’ series.
Investment Without Displacement: From Slogan to Strategy
How investments can be leveraged to ensure residents get to stay in their communities and reap the benefits of new amenities and increased accessibility.
Using Theater to Envision Racial Equity Solutions
Techniques from the arts world can help us envision and re-envision relationships and systems to spot stress points and opportunities within communities.
Can Using a Racial Equity Lens Increase Capital in Communities of Color?
If CDFIs adopted traditional appraisal standards to determine loan amounts, they’d make very few loans in the communities they were founded to serve.
“So, what do you do?” How to Have Conversations about Homelessness
Conversations about homelessness with those outside the field’s bubble can be exhausting, but there are several strategies and techniques that can help steer the conversation in a productive way.
The Rural Difference in Natural Disasters
There are distinct differences between natural disaster response and recovery in rural and urban communities. How can community-based organizations better respond to disasters and help rural communities prepare before disaster strikes?
From Sustainability to Resilience
My first reaction to the emergence of “resilience” as a lens for viewing community development was mostly informed by skepticism.
Resilience 101
Community development fits well within the growing resilience movement—and connecting the two more explicitly could make their work even more powerful.
NOLA Brings a Holistic Focus to Resilience
Cities cannot weather the effects of climate change without going beyond infrastructure to address institutional racism, historical inequities, and access to physical and mental health services.