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One City: Newark, NJ

Newark's children are more likely to fail in school and suffer from health problems than children living elsewhere in New Jersey.Photo courtesy of Kerrie...

A Changed Block: Hillside Ave., Newark

When I decided to move to Newark a year ago my expectations weren’t all that high. I had heard and read about Newark’s poverty...

CDCs in Gentrifying Neighborhoods

When community development corporations were created in the 1960s, their biggest challenge was assisting in the revival of neighborhoods that were physically and spiritually...

Real Solutions in Real Time

When a national or regional foundation initiative comes to a close, its grantees usually disperse and continue related work independently. Some may call on...

Affordable in Name Only

At first glance the news of late has been good regarding fair and affordable housing in Illinois. In September Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the...

One City

Visiting a big city for the first time can be overwhelming. Where to look first? And what experience is quintessential, without which you cannot...

Shelter Shorts

Starting Small Brings Big Rewards In Michigan, some organizations are coming up with creative approaches to teach the value of a dollar – a dollar...

Fundraising Tuesdays

It’s Tuesday morning and as I dash out the door, my husband hands me a box of new #2 pencils. Last Tuesday, he gave...

Making Progress in the Preservation of Affordable Housing

During the last six months of 2003, one could easily make the case that the nation’s entire domestic priorities were summed up in five...

From Brooklyn to Berlin: Organizing Schoeneweide

The scene looks familiar enough. In a foyer outside an elegant legislative chamber, a group of citizens is pigeonholing their local politicians. A vote...

The Fortress of Solitude

The Fortress of Solitude, by Jonathan Lethem. Doubleday. 2003. 528 pp. $26 (hardcover). When I first read excerpts from Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress...

Building a Better City: Europe’s Affordable Housing Standard

In the United States, nonprofit builders of affordable housing often compete against each other as well as against larger, better-capitalized private builders for limited...