Community Development Innovation Forum Documents
Working Group Reports & Documents
Materials from Innovation Forum Events
The Community Development Innovation Forum
Over the past forty years, Community Development Corporations and their partners in the Community Development field have achieved remarkable success – building homes, creating jobs, developing leaders and transforming lives and communities. This track record and the significant infrastructure that we have established position us to tackle some of the most vexing problems facing our neighborhoods and communities, especially during this current economic crisis. At the same time, our success can also be a weakness as we confront new challenges and opportunities and seek to expand and deepen our impact. There is a risk that we will rest on our laurels and assume that what has worked in the past will work in the future. Models and strategies that worked in the 1980s, 1990s or even the past few years may not be the best models for the coming decade. CDCs and their partners must adapt and respond to the rapid changes facing our field – changes in real estate markets, demographics, public policy, philanthropy, nonprofit management and finances, financial markets, communications technology and a coming generational shift in the leadership of our field.
MACDC and the Boston office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) established the Community Development Innovation Forum in partnership with others in order to engage a robust and thoughtful process to identify specific opportunities to advance innovative practices that will enable the field to most effectively respond to these changing dynamics. The Forum intentionally includes all stakeholders in the field – CDCs, funders, lenders, policy makers, consultants, academics, and other partners – to ensure that our thinking is reflective of the entire field and our solutions have broad support. Specifically, the goals of this effort are two-fold: (1) to be a forum for innovative thinking about the future of the community development field in the state, and (2) to generate and advance practical ideas and strategies that the field can implement to increase its effectiveness and be more responsive to changing community conditions.
Phase 1 of this process began in June 2008 and ended in June 2009 with the publication of our Phase 1 report. During phase one several working groups were established to focus on key issues and each group produced a report summarizing its work and recommendations. Phase 1 also included the publication of reports and several public forums where speakers and participants shared innovative ideas.
Phase 2 of the Innovation Forum began in July 2009. The second phase is focused on continuing some of the work begun in Phase 1, but is more focused on implementation of new ideas. Different organizations within the Forum are taking the lead on specific activities and the Forum itself continues to sponsor public events during which innovative ideas can be shared. For more information, read our Phase 2 program design report.
Funding to support the Forum’s work has been provided by The Boston Foundation, the Hyams Foundation, and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership.
Readings on Community Development Innovation
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Coming Together | Shelterforce | 11/01/2009 |
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The “Minnesota Nice”: A Culture of Collaboration | Shelterforce | 11/01/2009 |
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Getting from Here to There | Shelterforce | 11/01/2009 |
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As Prices Rise, Housing Groups Face the Need to Alter Tactics | The New York Times | 01/07/2007 |
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Building Community in Place: Limitations and Promise | Community Development Reader | 04/01/2007 |
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NET GAINS: A Handbook for Network Builders Seeking Social Change | Innovation Network for Communities | 01/01/2008 |
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In It Together | Shelterforce | 12/11/2007 |
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Have Community, Will Travel | Shelterforce | 12/11/2007 |
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Beyond the Farm | Shelterforce | 12/12/2007 |
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An Unfinished Agenda | Shelterforce | 12/11/2007 |
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Balancing Act | Shelterforce | 11/14/2007 |
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Using Social Innovations to Transform Community Systems | Innovation Network for Communities | 11/20/2007 |
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The Networked Nonprofit | Stanford Social Innovation Review | 04/01/2008 |
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A 21st Century Vision For Community Development | Shelterforce | 11/23/2009 |
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Merging Wisely | Standford Business School | 04/13/2010 |