Three Local Policy Innovations that Promote Inclusive, Equitable Mixed-Income Communities
Making inclusion and equity a reality in more American metropolitan areas is possible. Doing so requires innovations in local, regional, and state policies related to mixed-income communities.
Stop Talking About the Racial Wealth Gap
It may seem counterintuitive, but in order to close the wealth gap, we must shift our focus from the gap itself to the policies, conditions, and systems that spawned it.
Keeping Gentrification From Following Green Space
LA organizers work with park professionals on policies to allow green space investment in neighborhoods that have lacked it without paving the way for displacement.
It’s Time to Move On From Community Consensus
When we rethink the problem as one of political voice rather than community consensus, it opens up new, innovative techniques to determine public priorities.
Not Your Granddad’s Suburb: Trump’s Racist Appeals Fall Flat In Diversified Suburbs
Trump attempted to win over the suburbs by using racist buzzwords, demonstrating his ignorance of what modern suburbia looks like.
Trump’s Empty Shell of a Promise to Renters
Diane Yentel slams President Trump's latest executive order as "reckless and harmful."
The Most We Can Do: A National Mandate for Housing Justice
As the United States wrestles with its long history of racial injustice, shared-equity programs stand as one solution to address inequality and exclusion in the realms of housing.
Did Ithaca Really Cancel Rent?
In early June, residents and organizers successfully pressured the Ithaca Common Council to pass a resolution that requests that the state grant them the authority to cancel rent in response to COVID-19. Contrary to many headlines, it didn't actually cancel rent—yet.
The Age of Predatory Inclusion
A review of Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.
Community Organizations Have to Talk About Police Violence Directly
It’s easy to quickly refocus the conversation around police violence on the problems our organizations are already set up to fix—here’s why we shouldn’t.
NYC Hospital Closures: Land-Use Decisions Have Life and Death Consequences
How hospital closures in NYC follows an all-too-familiar pattern of disinvestment and a lack of resources in low-income communities of color.
Let’s Interrupt History: Racial Equity in a Time of Crisis
Data on the pandemic shows once again the dramatic consequences of racial inequalities. CDFIs must focus on ensuring equity for Black-owned businesses.
A Love Letter to the Next Decade of Community Development
For a long time, we’ve been too quiet about what’s working and what’s fueling us. But our field has major reasons to be proud; reasons you could miss in the cacophony of daily news.
Financial Coaches, Let’s Be Upfront About Economic Structural Racism
Financial education messaging is too often presented as if individual behavior and attitudes are the cause of our growing economic challenges rather than our social, economic, and political systems.
Beyond a New Rail Stop
Expanding rail lines shouldn't dominate transportation talk. Making improvements to existing transit can make a big difference for low-income households.
Integrating Arts and Culture Strategies into Transit Plans
Three transit projects show how artists, transit agencies, and community groups helped communities envision more equitable outcomes.
Youth Soccer on Transit Land
For the last 30 years, Atlanta nonprofit Soccer in the Streets has been removing the cost barrier to soccer by offering free programs and uniforms. Two years ago, it increased access to the sport by constructing soccer fields on unused land owned by the city’s transit authority.
Redlining Would Be Relegalized by CRA Reform Proposal
In an attempt to make compliance easier for banks, regulators are proposing to incentivize the very thing the Community Reinvestment Act was written to fight.
The Ticket to Opportunity
An Indianapolis-based organization successfully campaigned to bring more funding to the mass transit system in Marion County. How did the organization balance the tension between expanding rail line service and improving bus service, and ensure race was at the forefront of the conversation?
Battling Inequity in Food Systems with Entrepreneurship
A number of leadership organizations and initiatives–from large to small–are working to bring about greater economic opportunity in the food system and improve access to healthy food, focusing specifically on communities of color.