Making Progress in the Preservation of Affordable Housing
During the last six months of 2003, one could easily make the case that the nation’s entire domestic priorities were summed up in five...
Anatomy of a Merger
The merger of two nonprofit housing development corporations in Nashua, New Hampshire, provides an opportunity to examine one path these organizations can take to increase the odds of survival.
East Harlem’s Bottom Line: Hope Community Development Corporation
Mark Alexander has a plan. At 46, he isn’t content with having more than tripled the number of apartments that Hope Community manages in...
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...
So You Want to Be a Developer: Community Organizing Groups Consider Housing Development
The second week of October 2001 was a busy one for Nobel Neighbors, a community organizing group in Chicago’s West Humboldt Park neighborhood. It...
Going the Other Way: Adding Organizing to Development
Some groups move in the opposite direction from Nobel Neighbors, starting out with a development focus and adding in organizing for the same reasons...
Beyond Gentrification
There is no reason why people who have worked so hard to build lives and improve their neighborhoods should not be able to stay there.
Shifting Fortunes: Trends in Housing Policy and Programs
In exchange for the abandonment of meaningful levels of housing assistance—whether project- or tenant-based—we are paying a high price in homelessness and severe cost burdens.
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.
CRA Survives Its Toughest Challenge
There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result. –Winston Churchill
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has survived the most serious attack in...
After the Fall
Is community development simply becoming a trickier and more competitive business? CDCs once had free run of the landscape of distressed communities. Today, competition to redevelop in these communities is intensifying.
Dennis West on ECI’s Rise and Fall
Did Eastside Community Investment push the envelope too far?
We did a whole lot of things right for a long time. In spite of what...
Expanding the Scope of Community Development
More than four decades of suburban growth have moved demographic, political, and economic power from central cities toward their suburban counties. The change can...
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)...
Preparing for Change
CBOs, particularly those involved in comprehensive community building efforts, need to do a better job of involving residents and other constituents in planning and...
Comprehensive Community Initiatives: Words Not Whacks
You've had it! You've tried your best to remain calm and reasonable in a conflict, but your last nerve has been plucked. What now?
WAIT....
The Rebuilding Communities Initiative
Launched in 1993, the Annie E. Casey Foundation's (AECF) Rebuilding Communities Initiative (RCI) aims to provide the support services needed to help transform economically...
Housing Advocate, Minnesota State Representative Karen Clark
Mention the word "housing" in the Minnesota state legislature, and you're likely to be referred to the office of Representative Karen Clark. Clark, a...
Comprehensive Community Initiatives: Redefining Community Development
Comprehensive community initiatives borrow heavily from various community development models but at the same time are unique in their structure, strategies, and ambitious goals.
Comprehensive Community Initiatives: Resources and Contacts
Publications
There seems to be an unavoidable tension between community groups and foundations in CCIs, according to a study of six case CCIs, included in...