Jan/Feb 1999
Issue #103
Going Green
An interview with Greg Watson, executive director of Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, a community-based organization in the Roxbury section of Boston. His background in sustainability and agriculture has been put to use by Roxbury residents, and they’ve developed a community-based revitalization plan that emphasizes urban gardening, energy conservation, and environmental justice. And several articles about going green: Green communities, green jobs, green housing.
A Meeting of Movements
In New York City the mayor tries to cast destruction of community gardens as a gain for housing advocates. Along the west coast, on-going battles pitch preservation of old-growth forests […]
Green Communities, Green Jobs
Community Based Development Organizations (CBDOs) often get drawn into an environmental agenda by the need to organize against an environmental hazard. In Roxbury, Massachusetts, for example, the Dudley Street Neighborhood […]
Sustaining Community Power
Growing up in Cleveland, Greg Watson says he “intuitively knew” early on that environmental issues were important, and at Tufts University in the late 60s he became involved in the […]
Building Green
One of the earliest experiments in ecologically aware affordable housing took place in Roosevelt, New Jersey, a WPA-era suburb, in the late 70s to early 80s. Architects of Roosevelt Senior […]
Cleaner, Greener Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee, identified as the most polluted city in America by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1969, is now hailed as the crown jewel of the country’s sustainable […]
Location Efficient Mortgages
When families rely on public transit rather than automobiles for travel needs, they spend less on transportation. When they shop, work, recreate, socialize, learn, and participate in their local community, […]
Minneapolis Goes Green
Minneapolis’s inner city is home to The Green Institute, a nonprofit economic development organization focused on sustainable enterprise. Incorporated in 1993, the institute originated from a grassroots campaign against the […]
Livable Communities: A Shared Goal
On the face of it, the intersections between the sustainability movement and the community development movement are not too hard to identify. We know that low-income communities bear the bulk […]
Shelter Shorts
The Welfare Shuffle As President Clinton and other politicians hail the news of the drop in welfare rolls across the country, a less rosy scenario is emerging. In Washington state, […]
When Fundraising Strategies Wear Out
Nearly all organizations have three fundraising fantasies: Fantasy 1: The Council on Foundations will declare their group, “The group to fund now and forever” and, using one simple proposal […]
Develop the Economy, Don’t Just Grow It
Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development. Herman E. Daly. 253 pp. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996. Although I’ve never met him, I must admit: economist Herman Daly has had a […]
National Collaboration Drives Transportation Policy
On August 12, 1998, almost 1000 leaders from 14 states gathered in St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Chicago, Illinois, for a one-of-a-kind meeting. This was the seminal moment […]
Washington News & Views
Community Reinvestment Act Under Attack Again The financial services modernization bill that almost passed last year is back, and would permit broad affiliations between banks, insurance companies, and securities companies. […]