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.”

Does Richmond Show the Future of Community Wealth Building?

Richmond’s creation of the nation’s first Office of Community Wealth Building marks a reimagining of community economic development policy.

Happy Holidays From All of Us to All of You

                    As we wind down 2014 and prepare for the new year, the folks at Shelterforce would like to express our thanks to you—our readers and supporters. We’ve enjoyed connecting with you through Shelterforce in print and on the web, Rooflines, and our Shelterforce Weekly newsletter, […]
Melvin L. Oliver, Ph.D., joined the Ford Foundation in 1996 as vice president for asset building and community development.

Interview with Melvin L. Oliver of the Ford Foundation

Melvin Oliver, vice president for asset building and community development at the Ford Foundation, talks about community development, black and white wealth, and racial inequality.
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In Trump’s Lame Duck Period, Nonprofits Still Face “Chaotic” Effect of His Orders

Nonprofits struggle to understand how to respond to the ban on “divisive concepts” in their training and protect their federal funding.
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Trickle Up Housing: Filtering Does Go Both Ways

Here's something we don't talk about enough: developing affordable housing in a tight, high-cost market also increases overall affordability through filtering! Just in the other direction—it trickles up.
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Building Democracy (Faith-Based Community Organizing)

IAF’s work in the Southwest encompasses 22 faith-based organizations across Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Nebraska, Iowa, and southern California.

Detroit Future City’s Plan for Revitalization Pushes Job Creation

For supporters and enthusiasts of Detroit’s revitalization, the city is poised to be a “model for the future;” but in order to make a comeback, it will have to...

Redefining Community Development

Part II: Collaborating for Change (Click here for Part 1: New Partnerships) Willie Mae Gaskin can't walk through the halls of the Warren/Conner Development Coalition (WCDC) on the Eastside of Detroit without being stopped by nearly...

The Changing Model of CDCs

Staying relevant in a changing economy will push CDCs to place importance on green initiatives, sustainability, and out-of-the box funding methods.

Environmental Justice: Heck of a Job Ahead

The new president has a lot of catching up to do on the unmet imperatives of environmental justice. Originally anchored in the urgency of redressing the impact of environmental poisons and discriminatory pollution on...

Shelterforce’s Top 10 Stories of 2021

COVID-19 and evictions, more on the gentrification debate, and the misleading marketing of renters choice—Shelterforce reviews its most-read articles of the year. Which was most important to you?

Weaving Together the Silos of Community Development

The New Year—both 2014 and the Lunar New Year—provides a time for reflection and visioning; a time to ask: “How do we properly weave our collective work to push...

Can We Curb Crime by Cleaning the Corner?

As communities discuss reeling in their police departments, Flint, Michigan and Binghamton, New York have turned to another tool to reduce crime.

Contracting with the Community

To connect with hard-to-reach communities, a Twin Cities agency diverted some of its consulting budget away from national firms and to organizations that already had those relationships.
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How Do We Change the Narrative Around Housing?

In-depth public opinion research points to ways to intensify support for housing justice policies—and to a few danger spots to avoid.
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Shelter Shorts: The Week in Community Development-Dec. 1

Demolitions conducted using Hardest Hit Funds have exposed already suffering communities to asbestos; Vancover gets accessory dwelling units right; Obama dismisses the idea of a community benefits agreement in Chicago; and more in this week's Shelter Shorts, a look back at the week in community development news.
johns hopkins medical library

In Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Seeks to Be a Good Neighbor

The current HopkinsLocal effort, a three-year program launched in September 2015, is also clearly a response to the death of Freddie Gray and the events that followed.
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Arts Build Community

CDCs now recognize that art and cultural activities can be useful tools toward building a community's identity, meaning, and spirit. But bank regulators have not yet reached a sufficient level of comfort with this new strategy.

Housing Advocacy Group Gets $5M Anonymous Donation

From the National Low Income Housing Coalition The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) announced today that it had received an anonymous $5 million donation from a consortium of Coalition members “for the purpose of...

Between Eminence & Notoriety: Four Decades of Radical Urban Planning

Between Eminence & Notoriety: Four Decades of Radical Urban Planning, by Chester Hartman, Center for Urban Policy Research, 2002. 405 pp. $29.95 (Paperback), $39.95 (Cloth). In her foreword to Chester Hartman’s newest book, Jane Jacobs...