The Hidden Threat of Tax Cuts to Equitable Economic Development
Although the Trump administration’s recent budget proposal offers only a look at expenses, with no numbers on revenue, it won’t be long before massive...
Can Cities Fix Their Polarization Problem? A Review of The Divided City
How different would cities look and how different would people’s lives be if those with the power to set policy and invest resources prioritized the most vulnerable residents and the neighborhoods they live in?
Reconnecting Jobs and Housing
National community development leaders discuss making the case for housing in a "jobs above all else" political environment.
Manufactured Locally
While there is much debate about the state of large-scale domestic manufacturing, a few places are quietly supporting local manufacturing for items that have been made overseas for some time, from jewelry to jeans.
With Rising Property Taxes, Should Non-Profits Now Pay Their “Fair Share”?
It’s tight here in New Jersey.
And it’s because it’s crowded. With 8.7 million people, we are 11th in the country in population, but...
The Slow Building Movement
Standing at the northern gateway of Milwaukee’s Fifth Ward and the confluence of the Menomonee and Milwaukee Rivers is...
Cut the Red Tape – Local Hire Needed
Last month, USDOT Secretary Anthony Foxx announced a new, year long model program to test innovative local hire policies....
The Benefits of Having Everyone at the Table
How might we better engage the families we work with and provide them access to larger opportunities? Last month, CFED held their bi-annual Assets Learning Conference. It featured a range of topics that touched on an array of asset-building issues and included networking opportunities, mobilized conversations with policymakers, and celebrations of the progress of the […]
Improving CRA for Rural America
The Community Reinvestment Act regulations should be recrafted to incentivize investments in underserved and economically distressed communities, many of which are rural.
Take and Give
Turning eminent domain into a tool for creating vital communities hinges on crafting a delicate balance between all who stand to benefit -- or lose out -- from the transformation of a neighborhood.
Letting the Dollars Land
To realize the promise of community investment, the capacity of specific places to absorb available capital needs to grow.
Great Falls And The Silk City
PATERSON, New Jersey — It’s early February and the air temperature hovers in the low teens — never mind the windchill that could only...
Cape Cod’s Fish Pier Is Tourist Bait
Last year I wrote on Rooflines about a personal connection I had to the time when Cape Cod, that...
Uber-noxious
At the PolicyLink Equity Summit the last week of October, Orson Aguilar of the Greenlining Institute was taking a...
Continuing the Dream
New Communities Inc. was the largest African-American owned parcel of land in the United States the late 1960s. For more than 15 years, it survived attempts at sabotage and other challenges thanks to the collective efforts of as many as 500 families.
The Important Deadline Coming Up for All Governors
States have a deadline to submit their Opportunity Zones nominations. What factors will be weighed in the decision process, and what will federal designation mean to distressed neighborhoods?
How CDFIs are Helping Small Businesses Create Good Jobs
Community development financial institutions lend to micro- and small-business owners, but the jobs those businesses create are often minimum wage, part time, or otherwise low quality. What makes a job a good job, and what are CDFIs doing to help small-business borrowers create good jobs?
CLTs Go Commercial
The idea of turning the community land trust model into an economic development tool is attracting growing interest, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions about how it would work.
Lifting the Fog on Section 3
When it's more appealing to circumvent the law requiring that jobs in public housing construction go to qualified residents than to follow it, something needs to change.
Countrywide Is Not On Your Side
Angelo Mozilo, the Countrywide financial chairman who is arguably the poster child for the current subprime meltdown, just learned the difference between e-mail reply...