Community Development at a Crossroads

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Since the 1960s, community development corporations (CDCs) have played a central role in leading the work of revitalization in neighborhoods plagued with poverty and disinvestement.  Although probably best known for building affordable housing, CDCs actually play a role in creating a wide variety of assets, both physical and intangible within the communities they serve.  As the work of community development has become more sophisticated, it has shifted from a grassroots movement into a complex industry composed of foundations and government entities that fund the work, intermediary organizations that agreggate and disperse foundation and government dollars, and a wide variety of ground-level organizations (including CDCs) that carry out development activities.

In recent years this industry has come face to face with its greatest challenge yet: a perfect storm consisting of rampant foreclosures and joblessness, financially weakened foundations and government agencies, and creeping ambivalence on the part of intermediaries and foundations toward the neighborhood based CDCs.  At this critical moment it is time to re-examine the definition of what exactly a CDC is, the unique and essential role these organizations play in work of community revitalization, and a "new" model of community development concieved by foundations and intermediaries ("comprehensive community initiatives")  that calls into question whether and how CDCs will be supported in the future.

Noel Nix, an urban planning student at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, has spent the last several months examining these issues and has compiled a report entitled "Community Development at a Crossroads: CDCs, CCIs, and the Future of an Industry".  It is required reading for anyone who has a stake or interest in exploring how to move the work of building healthy neighborhoods forward.