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...
HUD Announces NSP2 Grants
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced this morning the long-awaited list of grantees for the second round of the Neighborhood Stabilization...
Casinos are Parasites
It is not news that communities desperate for jobs and economic development often make terrible long-term decisions, welcoming in...
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...
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?
Role-Playing for Energy Efficiency
Connecticut experiments with a “megacommunity strategic simulation” to move the needle on residential energy efficiency—providing a look at a tool that could also apply to other community development challenges.
Interview With Tom Szaky, Founder, Terracycle
We spoke with Tom Szaky, TerraCycle's founder and CEO, about social enterprise, locating in a distressed community, and what he as an employer would want out of workforce development programs.
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...
Using City Government to Build Community Wealth
While the two major party presidential candidates have many differences, both agree on the primacy of free enterprise. Mitt Romney...
A Bigger, Better Vision for the Left
What would full employment look like? Minority contractors, pastors, and faith leaders flew to the Capitol last week to...
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.
Long Time Coming
After 40 years of abuse and neglect, will the residents of D.C.'s once-vibrant Shaw neighborhood succeed in redefining the value of people and place?
Impact Investing for Community Development
New sources of mission-driven private capital could step up to support community development where traditional sources of financing are withdrawing.
Beyond the Stimulus: Whither Communities In The Next Transportation Bill?
I am immensely grateful to my colleagues at NRDC and in the broader smart growth movement for being on top of what’s been going...
Hey Supposed Economic Recovery, You Missed a Spot
The economic recovery is not reaching all people in all places. I suppose this should be obvious. But as 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?
