Tag: rural
CDCs Are Having a Moment. Can the Momentum Last?
Over the past couple of years, community development corporations have been popping up in sometimes-unexpected places across the country. Will this increased interest in CDCs last, or is it a trend that will end when the money runs out?
Community Development Field Is Resilient, But on the Edge
New research shows that smaller community-based development organizations in particular are hanging on but facing financial challenges.
Leaky Roof? A USDA Home Repair Option
One USDA program has given out over a billion dollars in rural home repair grants since its inception, and could be inspiration for similar programs in urban and suburban communities as well.
Lessons from Award-Winning Hospital-Community Partnerships
American Hospital Association's NOVA awards honor hospitals' success in addressing social determinants of health.
Doing Their Duty: Should Fannie, Freddie Invest More in Underserved Markets?
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are under a congressional mandate to improve investment in three specific kinds of housing markets—but Congress didn’t say by how much, and advocates say they could be doing far more.
A Park That Affirms a Culture’s Rich Traditions
“If it weren’t for the artists, we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere.” By incorporating the Zuni people into the planning, design, and execution, a unique park in New Mexico addresses health on multiple levels.
Affordable Housing for LGBTQ Seniors
LGBTQ seniors are more likely than peers their age to experience discrimination, leaving them more likely to be poor and have chronic health problems. What does it take to create affordable, LGBTQ-friendly senior housing?
A ‘Public Option’ for Low-Income Homeownership?
What the USDA could teach us about better federal homeownership policy.
Health Care and Community Development Partnerships in the Time of COVID-19
For health care institutions and community development organizations that focus on low-income communities’ social determinants of health, this year has been a doozy. The...
What Prior Disasters Have Taught Housing Advocates About How to Respond...
When it comes to helping people maintain or recover their housing, hurricanes and fires aren’t as different from a pandemic as one might think.
How Artists Helped a Housing Organization Adapt to Demographic Change
An in-depth look at the lessons one housing organization learned after receiving a multimillion grant to integrate arts and culture strategies in its work. Has the organization changed the way it operates?
We Need a Rural New Deal
COVID-19 is a combined health and economic crisis poised to further devastate rural communities already suffering severe economic stress. Already, rural health care systems...
Deciding Not to Rebuild After Climate-Related Disasters
Officials in large and small cities along the East Coast are realizing that maybe they shouldn’t rebuild on land that repeatedly floods. Instead they’re focusing on buyouts, building affordable housing on higher ground, and other mitigation efforts.
How a Dozen Organizations Are Fighting Persistent Poverty Together
A national coalition of development financial institutions, CDCs, and financial intermediaries have banded together with local leaders who live in communities where more than 20 percent of the population has lived in poverty for more than 30 years.
Rural Hospital Struggles Are Also an Economic Development Issue
Aside from the health implications, the closure of a hospital in a rural community deeply impacts the area’s economic wellbeing. But in some cases, it can be avoided.
Q: Is Rental Housing a Rural Issue?
Yes! Although homeownership rates are higher in rural areas, there is still a significant rural population that needs rental housing.
Small Numbers, Great Expectations: A Case for Rural Investment
“Drop dead” wasn’t an acceptable answer to urban decay in the 1970s. And it isn’t the right answer for struggling rural areas today.
Improving CRA for Rural America
The Community Reinvestment Act regulations should be recrafted to incentivize investments in underserved and economically distressed communities, many of which are rural.
Working up a Sweat with the Self-Help Housing Program
Fifty-four years and 52,000 homes later, the future of the Self-Help Housing Program for low- and very-low income households is uncertain after it was eliminated in a budget proposal for next fiscal year.
An Antidote to the Negativity Surrounding Rural America
With all the news of downward trends in rural America, this rural sociologist says he finally has something to smile about.