In August and September of 2022, the Resident Leadership Academy had the wonderful opportunity to send our staff Sarah Byrnes, Resident Leadership Academy Director and Tiana Lawrence, Mel King Institute Program Associate along with several RLA trainers to participate in the overnight Retreat and Renewal program at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, MA. Kripalu is a well-known nonprofit educational organization that is centered on centuries-old teachings of yoga, mindfulness, and both personal and communal transformation. CLICK HERE to read more.

• The MACDC Notebook: May 2021 Issue

INTRODUCTION

The Massachusetts Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) program, launched in 2014, continues to be a reliable source of funds for Community Development Corporations (CDCs). In the program’s first six years, over $58 million was raised to support critical Community Development projects and programs, including $12 million in 2019, the most raised in any year to date.  MACDC previously published a detailed report on the fundraising success of the CITC program, available on our website. While raising these funds is a significant achievement, MACDC also seeks to document how these funds are being used by participating CDCs to better serve their communities.

The data presented throughout this report comes from MACDC’s GOALs Report. Each year, state-certified CDCs are required to complete the GOALs survey that aims to capture detailed information on an organization’s performance across six major areas: community leader engagement; families supported; homes built or preserved, job opportunities created or preserved; and funds invested by CDCs in local communities.  The CITC program is designed to strengthen the CDC field in Massachusetts so that each neighborhood and town in which our members work becomes increasingly vibrant and provides opportunities for individuals and families to thrive.

Just in 2019, state-certified CDCs reported:

• 1,724 community leaders engaged
• 70,016 families supported with housing, jobs, or other services
• 1,543 homes built or preserved
• 4,162 job opportunities created or preserved
• 1,256 entrepreneurs received technical assistance
• $918.1 million invested in local communities in 2019 – the largest CDC investment reported since we have started doing the GOALs Survey!

In this report, we dig into the GOALS report data to better understand specifically how CITC funds are being used to drive impact.  Are funds being used to develop an organization’s capacity to allow for new projects and programs? In what areas are they focusing their capacity building efforts – technology? Communications? Fundraising? Real Estate?   How are donations being used to deepen resident engagement?

CDC ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY

The performance metrics above speak to the capability and vitality of the CDCs involved in the CITC program. But the GOALs Survey also captures the more nuanced information concerning an organization’s operating capacity and activities due to this tax credit.

In 2019,77% of the CDCs participating in the CITC program report that it is helping them increase their operating budget.  Additionally, 68% of the participating CDCs have added or expanded the goals for their organization, indicating that their organizations are not just becoming increasingly stable, but growing, due to the CITC program. In fact, in 2019, 98% of all CDCs involved in the CITC program noted an increase in their organization’s operating capacity.

CDC operating capacity increased most significantly by hiring new staff, providing additional staff training, improving the organization’s information systems with noted growth in communications systems, and new or improved equipment and facilities. Incredibly, 98% of CDCs involved in the program increased their staffing levels due in part to the CITC program, while 76% also provided more staff training. Furthermore, 45% of participating organizations improved their information systems, a key way to improve the CDCs capacity.

A CDC’s greatest cost is staff salaries, often greatly out pacing consultant fees and facility rental or mortgage payments. CDCs are not likely to expand their staff capacity without recognizing a stable multi-year revenue source to cover these new costs, which means that the consistency of CITC-leveraged funding is key to its capacity building impact. The commitment to increased staff capacity also speaks to the ability of the CDCs to reliably expand their program offerings without risking painful and embarrassing contraction that will poorly reflect on their ability to support legacy programs upon which community members depend.

CDC ACTIVITY ANALYSIS

The CITC GOALs Survey also captures the activities that CDCs added or expanded with CITC.  MACDC tracks the following activity categories: real estate development; housing services; small business assistance; financial stability; community leadership development/support; job training/workforce development; elder programs; youth programs; and community engagement.

Additionally, 75% of all CDCs participating the CITC program report that they have added or expanded their community engagement since becoming involved in the program. The increase in community engagement underlines a fundamental goal of the CITC program: To expand and enrich a CDC’s engagement with the residents of the communities in which they work as CDCs strive to be organizations that grow from the bottom up, in that residents inform the CDC on their priorities, programs and, rather than government contracts or for-profit interests determining what should be pursued. In fact, community leadership development and/or support shows the greatest expansion (50%) after real estate development (61%) as for many CDCs this these activities are the foundation upon which the organization is formed. Finally, job training and workforce development and youth programs continue to grow. CDCs, by responding to the needs of the community in which they work, are expanding programs already in place to address critical needs while adding new program offerings in the communities in which they work.

CONCLUSION

The CITC program continues to meet and exceed the vision set forth in the legislation passed in August 2012. As a tax credit, taxpayers are supporting targeted philanthropy in communities largely comprised of less advantaged members of our neighborhoods and towns. As a program that brings together public and private support to address critical community needs, the CITC program strengthens bedrock institutions that are mission driven to ensure that all of Massachusetts residents have an opportunity to thrive. This work is accomplished by producing and preserving homes; producing and preserving jobs; and other fundamental activities. The CITC program is accomplishing its purpose: leveraging private philanthropy; building capacity; expanding services; and deepening community impact.

I grew up listening to R.E.M.  It was the song “Don’t Go Back to Rockville” that first grabbed my attention.  To me, Michael Stipe’s lyrics where bizarre, political, angry, poetic, and inspiring.  Peter Buck’s guitar playing had a whimsical spirit to it that carried a great melody.  Somehow it all came together beautifully.  Now as an adult, while I still listen to R.E.M., it’s often for the nostalgia, to bring back wonderful memories of hours spent with my friends when this music was both the central reason for hanging out, or just the background sound to a road trip.  On the surface, maybe it’s strange to write about how a song’s lyrics are applied to my job, but they’re stuck in my head.  They come back to me when some odd connection is made.  Somehow it just works.

Below are four R.E.M. lyrics that drift into my consciousness from time to time:

“If wishes were leaves, the trees would be fallen.  Listen to reason, the season is calling.”

The song “Stand” is corny, but it’s still stuck in my head.  It was on the radio so often that you couldn’t get away from it.  All of that aside, these lyrics come to mind when my colleagues or I start to go off on wish lists of new features, new projects, reports, or anything, I guess, that seems unrealistic, at least for the present.  To me, it’s mental shorthand.  When they come to mind, I know it’s time to come back to reality.

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“Practice, practice makes perfect.  Perfect is a fault and fault lines change.”

The song “I believe” from Life’s Rich Pageant is a top five R.E.M. song for me.  This song held some magical powers that were unleashed each time I listened to it.  I hear these lyrics in my head a lot.  I can’t say that I understand them entirely and that in a way makes them even more powerful. That said, I think it’s mostly a way of saying, “Don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good.”  Like the lyrics from “Stand,” it’s a way of keeping me grounded and not getting stuck on every Oxford comma that is missing in our newsletter.  At a certain point, you need to move on to other work.

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“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.”

This song continues to have a life long after its release in 1987 on the album Document.  It seems to make the wasteland of media and pop culture into a happy place with its fast-paced rant.  I’m far from alone in finding social media, the news, text messages, volumes of emails sometimes just blurring into one insane cacophony of senseless noise.  During a recent communications training in which I participated, I learned that it takes 11 engagements with someone for a message to be received.  That’s a lot of communicating.  When I’m feeling particularly pessimistic about successfully conveying a message, I’m fine…fine.

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“When the world is a monster.  Bad to swallow you whole.”

“Can’t Get There from Here” from Fables of the Reconstruction works for me when big projects feel even bigger because I haven’t started them yet.  If I start on it, the scope becomes manageable and I can sink into the act of doing the work.  Again, I don’t pretend to understand what the lyrics meant, if anything, to R.E.M., but they just pop into my head.  Also depending on the size and scope of a project, sometimes the work is more like a marathon and not a sprint.  Taking small steps is a great way to a get started.

Music is fundamental to me and my understanding of our world.  I listen to music throughout the day.  Often, particularly at work, it’s Baroque or contemporary minimalism that’s playing in the background.  Even so, R.E.M.’s music introduced me to political discourse/discord, lyrics as poetry, and new ways of sharing with others.  It’s no surprise that they’re still with me after all these years, still winding their way into my day-to-day work routine, and not diminishing as powerful and wonderful memories of my youth.

This summer, MACDC announced the Community Investment Tax Credit Awards to celebrate the collective power of community leaders, community developers, and our partners to leverage and to build thriving communities. The awards were presented to three organizations at MACDC's 2018 Convention on Saturday, October 20th. The submission criteria was a 2-3 minute video that highlights a successful program/project that was launched, or expanded with CITC funding.

Here are the three award winners!

ASIAN CDC  |  NEWVUE COMMUNITIES  |  REVITALIZE CDC

On Tuesday, April 24th, Senate President Harriette Chandler spoke at MACDC's 2018 Lobby Day.  Her powerful remarks addressed the affordable housing crisis, how we must do more to address this challenge, and how zoning statutues need to be revisited.

"If just one family cannot afford to live in Massachusetts, then we have failed our collective responsibility to fairness, and have failed in our pursuit for economic prosperity," Senate President Chandler.

Here are her remarks in PDF format.

Boston, MA -  Eastern Bank has announced that it will award $300,000 in grants for the second year in a row to Community Development Corporations (CDCs) across Massachusetts participating in the Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) program.

“Eastern Bank continues to be an incredible supporter of CDCs in Massachusetts,” commented Joseph Kriesberg, MACDC’s President.  “CDCs will use this support to expand economic opportunity in local communities across Massachusetts.”

Organizations involved in the CITC program have deepened their community engagement, expanded their programming, and increased their impact.  In 2016, these organizations engaged nearly 2,000 community leaders to achieve the following results:

• Homes Built or Preserved:  1,195
• Job Opportunities Created or Preserved:  3,903
• Small Business Assistance Provided:  717
• Families Served with Housing, Jobs, or Other Services:  70,840
• Invested in Local Communities:  $489.6 million

“Eastern Bank is thrilled to continue supporting CDCs through the Community Investment Tax Credit program,” remarked Gary Leach, Eastern Bank Senior Vice President, Community Development Lending Group Head. “Eastern Bank is committed to supporting organizations working within low- and moderate-income communities.  The CITC increases the impact of support and helps ensure the long-term revitalization neighborhoods and town in Massachusetts.”

The CITC program provides a 50% refundable state tax credit for donations between $1,000 and $2 million.  Because the donation is refundable, organizations, such as foundations and donor advised funds, can support CDCs across Massachusetts through the program as well as individuals and businesses.

Over the past 11 years, CDCs across the Commonwealth have provided critical training and educational services to future homebuyers.  Pre-purchase education for prospective homebuyers is a vital resource that helps people not only prepare to purchase a home, but also helps qualify them for the One Mortgage, formally Soft Second Loan, program.

Check out the table below to see the number of individuals who not only graduated from a pre-purchase homebuyer course offered by a CDC, but also used the One Mortgage or Soft Second program to buy their home. (Source: MHP)

In 2015, the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation (MHIC) reached a new high in supporting community- and neighborhood-based organizations by donating over $400,000 to 31 CDCs, Boston LISC and MACDC with two-year contributions.  This level of support was only made possible by MHIC’s commitment to use the Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC).  MHIC, as a nonprofit investment and lending organization that focuses on the critical shortage of affordable housing across the Commonwealth, has financially supported CDCs since its founding in 1990.  Now, through the CITC program, MHIC is also able to help CDCs grow their operations through this valuable financial tool.

“The Community Investment Tax Credit enables MHIC to provide further support to our partners on the ground in communities of greatest need across Massachusetts,” commented Joe Flatley, MHIC’s President and CEO.  “We’re thrilled to be a leading investor in CDCs through the CITC program in 2015.  It’s an additional resource for us to use that ensures CDCs continue to provide critical services in the neighborhoods and towns in which they work.  We strongly encourage more businesses, individuals, and foundations to use the CITC program to power their donations to CDCs.”

“MHIC’s support of our field has been phenomenal from the start.  It doesn’t surprise me that Joe and the team at MHIC would use the CITC program to further support what CDCs are doing. This is an organization that knows how to invest wisely and help revitalize our most distressed communities.  And that’s what the CITC program is all about,” concluded Joe Kriesberg, MACDC’s President.

The CITC program continues again in 2016 with an additional $6 million of credits to be allocated by the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development.  To learn more about the program, go to https://macdc.org/how-it-works.

On Friday, December 11, Dorchester Bay EDC announced the hiring of Perry Newman as their new CEO.  MACDC welcome Perry to the CDC community here in Massachusetts.

Below is an excerpt from the press release:

"The Board of Directors of Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation is pleased to announce our hiring of a new CEO, Perry B. Newman. Over the course of a career in business, law, government and non-profit leadership Mr. Newman has created economic opportunity, advanced understanding of public policy, and brought clients and stakeholders together. He represented clients in the public, private and non-profit sectors in efforts to achieve objectives in diverse cultural environments, and also brings to Dorchester Bay extensive experience as a consultant, speaker, and author on matters relating to economic development, international business, and politics."  READ MORE