Jan/Feb 2002
Issue #121
Organizing and Development
After Sept. 11, there was much talk of a revival of popular respect for government, of a renewed sense of public purpose. The terrorist attacks forced a complacent country to reconsider its priorities, to focus its collective attention on addressing real needs. In the right hands, the rediscovery that government has an important role to play in our lives could have been a golden opportunity to reframe the debate over social policy. An inspired leader could have inspired the nation with a call to extend our international resolve to domestic concerns and challenged us to address unmet needs at home in housing, and health care, and economic security. In this issue, Sheila Crowley argues that affordable housing needs a champion. Also in this issue, several articles on organizing and development.
Target: Problem Properties
Photo Courtesy of HANDS Inc. For 12 years the building at 151 Chapman Street (above) stood vacant on a prominent corner, a menacing landmark that attracted squatters and generated no […]
Affordable Forever: Community Land Trusts
Communities across the country have taken up the CLT model to confront challenges from gentrification and sprawl to pollution and abandoned housing.
So You Want to Be a Developer: Community Organizing Groups Consider Housing Development
The second week of October 2001 was a busy one for Nobel Neighbors, a community organizing group in Chicago’s West Humboldt Park neighborhood. It organized 30 residents to attend a […]
Ten Things to Consider Before Getting into Real Estate Development
1. Check the fit: Values. Have a frank discussion about the values and practices that are most important to your group. Which of those are likely to be challenged by […]
Going the Other Way: Adding Organizing to Development
Some groups move in the opposite direction from Nobel Neighbors, starting out with a development focus and adding in organizing for the same reasons Nobel is adding development – visibility, […]
The Spirit of Rural Community Development, by Nelda K. Pearson
Here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia everyone knows the saying, “You can tell when times are hard. The gardens get bigger.” Although dependence on home-grown food is not […]
Over My Dead Body
In the weeks after September 11, there was much talk of a revival of popular respect for government, of a renewed sense of public purpose. Part of what brought us […]
Shelter Shorts: Community Development News
Big Victory in L.A. Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn has unveiled a plan calling for the creation of a $100 million trust fund to build affordable housing in Los […]
Fundraising: Federal Funding for Community Economic Development
Seeking federal funds for community economic development involves dealing with constantly changing sources, new programs and the need to think creatively. Office of Community Services Some of the old alphabet […]
Place Matters (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom)
Place Matters: Metropolitics for the Twenty-First Century, by Peter Dreier, John Mollenkopf and Todd Swanstrom. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2001. 334 pp. This book represents another attempt to […]
Housing Needs a Champion
HUD budget woes are nothing new. Federal budget authority for low-income housing assistance took a deep plunge in the early 1980s, and ever since, success has been measured largely by […]
Organizing with the State on Your Side
In California, municipalities are required by law to plan for their fair share of affordable housing. Has this put housing advocates out of a job? Not quite. There’s a big […]