Defining the Creative Economy People
I was pleased to hear at a recent planning workshop that the definition of the creative economy has been expanded. As popularized by Richard...
The Swiss Army Knife of Community Development
Across America—in inner city neighborhoods and rural towns alike—the level of economic and social distress is rising. Although these...
Reconnecting Shared Visions to Investment Opportunities
Recently, over two sizable cups of locally-roasted coffee, a colleague and I mulled over a simple question: “How can...
Underneath the Surface, a Community Fish Story
Sometimes I learn about the details of a community's development in the most random ways. My family gets together...
Building the Cars of the Future . . . in Detroit
How the nonprofit Focus: HOPE is helping to bring manufacturing jobs back to Detroit, and the Detroiters who need them.
Neighborhood Schools that Work for Kids, Communities, and the Environment
Here are 11 key principles for measuring how well schools and school policies fit in with their communities.
FHLBanks’ Affordable Housing Progam Can Be a Model for Economic Development Funding
Carol Wayman, federal policy director of the Corporation for Enterprise Development argues in the latest issue of Shelterforce that while community economic developers understand...
The Raw Extraction Economy
By now most people in urban America who pay attention to the news have heard of fracking, the practice of...
Maintaining a Bastion of Quality—and Affordability
As afforable housing developments age, managing and preserving them, both physically and financially, while neighborhoods change and energy costs rise is becoming a key concern for community developers. Here’s how one group in Philly is taking that on.
Who Will Benefit from Port Covington?
Advocates, city leaders, and Under Armour's real estate arm negotiate a $660 million tax deal and a vision for economic development in Baltimore.
Ford Foundation Announces Five-Year, $200M Metro Program
The Ford Foundation has announced a five-year, $200 million effort to help “transform the way that cities, suburbs and surrounding communities grow and plan...
What’s Wrong With Milwaukee’s Hiring Practices? Almost Everything
When the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee announced back in 2011 that they would be conducting an $82...
Baltimore: What The NYT Didn’t See Fit to Print
Editor’s Note: The sixteenth and seventeenth paragraphs of this post have been revised to clarify the controversy over the two research studies mentioned.
Johns Hopkins...
Impact Investing Resources
If you want to explore impact investing further, here are some places to start.
Detroit: Precise Associates
“When we try to stabilize neighborhoods, rather than being scattered in approach, we try to buy as many properties as possible in a given...
Making Light Rail Stop for Us
A promising, billion-dollar Twin Cities light rail project almost bypassed lower-income neighborhoods on its route, but thanks to a coalition of community groups, it will now make all local stops.
Despite a Rocky Start, Cleveland Model for Worker Co-ops Stands Test of Time
Even during tough times, the Evergreen Cooperative Initiative has added new co-ops, new workers, and new strategies.
The Slow Building Movement
Standing at the northern gateway of Milwaukee’s Fifth Ward and the confluence of the Menomonee and Milwaukee Rivers is...
Tracing the Roots of CDFIs: A review of Democratizing Finance
This book is a major contribution to increasing knowledge and awareness of how far the community development finance movement has come in 30 years.
Making a Success of Local Hire
Local hire policies are among the strongest strategies for bringing good job opportunities to disadvantaged communities, but adding more provisions to specifically target those with the most barriers to employment can make local hiring practices even more effective.