Issue #97

Mega-Merger Mania The increasingly rapid rate at which financial institutions are merging has prompted a challenge from a national coalition of community organizations, which is working to ensure that major […]

This issue is dedicated to one of the most important challenges facing community institutions today: how to connect their work to the metropolitan marketplace and the emergence of new political […]

More than four decades of suburban growth have moved demographic, political, and economic power from central cities toward their suburban counties. The change can be seen in the spatial segmentation […]

Capitalizing on Regional Economic Development Opportunities In the fall of 1996, New Community Corporation (NCC) in Newark and the nearby Hillside Auto Mall launched an effort to train city youth […]

After civil unrest shook the streets of Los Angeles in 1992, local low-income communities of color enjoyed what Andy Warhol once described as fifteen minutes of fame. The temporary spotlight […]

In response to growing social and economic polarization, between 1993 and 1997 Minnesota’s Twin Cities jump-started a long-dormant regional debate. In three years, the area reorganized its regional planning council, […]

This is God’s world. We are God’s people. The voices of several hundred church members – black and white, Protestant and Catholic – somewhat tentatively followed the lead of the […]

Part II: Collaborating for Change (Click here for Part 1: New Partnerships) Willie Mae Gaskin can’t walk through the halls of the Warren/Conner Development Coalition (WCDC) on the Eastside of […]

CBOs, particularly those involved in comprehensive community building efforts, need to do a better job of involving residents and other constituents in planning and decision-making. This is a difficult transformation […]

When you have low turnout for governance structure meetings, ask the following questions: Where’s the beef? If these meetings mostly consist of reports from staff or just reports generally, then […]

You’ve had it! You’ve tried your best to remain calm and reasonable in a conflict, but your last nerve has been plucked. What now? WAIT. Press the pause button. Anger […]

Launched in 1993, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s (AECF) Rebuilding Communities Initiative (RCI) aims to provide the support services needed to help transform economically distressed neighborhoods into safe, supportive, and […]

Profile of a Community Builder: Kathy Brown A self-described “board junkie,” Kathy Brown works with no less than 11 organizations in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, including the Germantown Community […]

In one-on-one interviews and group discussions, participants in community-building initiatives – including initiative managers, local project directors, researchers, technical assistance providers, other community resource professionals, resident volunteers, and funders – […]

Rent Decontrol  =  Rising Rents & Falling Diversity Three years after the repeal of rent regulations in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a survey of 1,000 tenants in formerly rent-controlled units shows skyrocketing […]

It was 1996, and an economic Godzilla loomed over Los Angeles, coming to crush the city’s precarious prosperity. That, at least, was the way some business and political leaders felt […]

There are times in the life of almost every group when a fundraising consultant can be helpful. These times are characterized by one or more of the following situations: You […]

Modern Housing for America: Policy Struggles in the New Deal Era by Gail Radford. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. 273 pp. Until the Depression, most American opinion leaders believed […]

In 1980, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) rural housing programs financed 62,700 subsidized single-family housing units and 33,600 subsidized apartments. By 1996, these numbers had dropped to 15,900 single-family […]

FY1999 HUD Budget “Cities have been at a competitive disadvantage with outlying counties,” said HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo in a February 2 New York Times article. The President’s FY 1999 […]