Learn about the Mel King Institute's mission to help organizations better serve their communities and their six years of impact. Featured stories include North Shore CDC's YouthBuild program that grew from a Mel King Institute scholarship and Angela Kelly's story of going from a LISC AmeriCorps Member to Director of Resident Leadership and Services at Madison Park DC, participating in our trainings and programs along the way. VIEW VIDEO

Fenway CDC announced that Leah Camhi is the new Executive Director, starting July 1st. With an extensive background founding, leading and developing nonprofits in Boston, Ms. Camhi will be taking helm of the 42 year old CDC as it looks to continue developing housing and helping lead a community undergoing significant transformation, particularly with the many developments lining Boylston St.

This week, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), Mass Smart Growth Alliance (MSGA), and Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA) released an extensive report discussing the Boston 2024’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics in Massachusetts. The report does not take a position for or against bringing the Games to Massachusetts, but rather emphasizes the importance of thinking now about the legacy these Games would leave behind. The report details the risks and potential benefits of hosting the games and outlines a number of recommendations for how best to ensure that the Games leave a positive legacy of investment that increases regional equity and economic opportunity. The report also details some of the risks if effective and inclusive planning is not done in advance.

“MACDC is proud to have contributed to the report because it brings to the forefront serious questions about the impact that the Olympics could have on lower income communities and communities of color,” commented MACDC President Joseph Kriesberg. “The report offers specific recommendations for how to mitigate the potential for displacement and gentrification and lays out a vision for leveraging the Olympic Games to pave the way for significant investment in housing that would be affordable to low and moderate income families.”

Check out Andre Leroux, the Mass Smart Growth Alliance Executive Director, discussing Boston 2024 and a series of suggestions to bring about a successful legacy to Boston's hosting the Summer Olympics with NECN's Peter Howe.

Steve Britton was surprised and pleased when he found out he was named a Community Bank Hero, but he says he's still trying to figure out just what he did to deserve the honor.That's just like Steve, said Jackie Giordano, the director of external affairs at the North Shore Community Development Coalition (CDC). Giordano, who has known Britton since he joined the organization's board of directors in 2012, nominated him for the distinction. READ MORE

On May 4th, Tom Callahan, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (an MACDC associate member) testified at a Federal Reserve hearing discussing unnecessary or burdensome regulations for insured depository institutions. The focus of his presentation was on the importance of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and how its rules should be strengthened in response to changes in the financial services industry. In order to keep pace with changes in the banking industry, Tom testified that a bank’s CRA service area should be based on where it does business – not just on where it has branches. A pointed example highlighted in the presentation was Wells Fargo, which is the third largest mortgage lender in Massachusetts, even though they do not have any branches in the Commonwealth – and therefore no CRA obligations in the Commonwealth. Tom also noted that CRA grade inflation has also weakened the impact of this important law.

On Wednesday, May 6^th, 200 community leaders, state legislators and officials came together at the State House for MACDC’s Annual Lobby Day. The morning kicked off with MACDC’s members meeting with their elected officials to highlight critical programs that need renewed and increased funding, such as the Small Business Technical Assistance program, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Community Preservation Act. For many, the highlight of the day came when Amy Curran shared her story. Amy, a leader within the Urban Edge community who found herself both pregnant and homeless six years ago, is now increasingly financially stable thanks, in part, to the Earned Income Tax Credit. Another highlight came when John Waite, Franklin County CDC’s Executive Director and Katie Reed, owner of Chequessett Chocolate, presented awards to Rep. Sarah Peake and Rep. Stephen Kulik for their continued leadership on behalf of the Small Business Technical Assistance program. John and Katie tried to “one up” each other concerning whose State Representative was a better champion of small business. Of course, both Rep. Peake and Rep. Kulik are incredible champions for small business. CDC leaders spent much of the rest of the day meeting with dozens of legislators and legislative aides to make their case for investments in community development.

Check out photos from the day on Facebook.

On Wednesday, May 13^th, The Alliance (Advancing Community Development by Confronting Racism), operated by the Mel King Institute and CHAPA, held a lunch to close the 5^th cycle, and ten years, of the Community Development Mentoring Program. The event was hosted by TSNE and included program participants, leaders in the field and mentoring program Alumni.

The featured speaker, Dani Monroe, presented her book Untapped Talent: Unleashing the Power of the Hidden Workforce. The presentation and discussion was deeply engaging and insightful. How are we bringing our community development values into staff advancement and leadership development? As a result, many of the leaders in the room expressed interest in exploring how we – as a field- can support organizational leaders to be more intentional about developing leaders in the workplace. 

AAFCPAs, a leading accounting firm in Massachusetts, released an excellent article on the value of the Community Investment Tax Credit as a way to have a significant philanthropic impact in one's community, while substantially reducing or eliminating one's Massachusetts tax obligation.

Below is an excerpt with a link to the full article.

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The Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) was established as a way to incentivize Commonwealth residents to invest in community development corporations (CDCs). The CITC program allows taxpayers to realize considerable tax savings when they make a qualified investment (cash contribution) in a CDC’s community development plan. For the individual or corporation who is charitably inclined, they are able to combine their desire to do good with their desire to save on taxes.

DONOR BENEFITS
The CITC is an outstanding tax incentive for both individuals and corporations who are inclined to donate $1,000 or more, with an annual cap of $1 million in credits. Donors are eligible to receive a credit equal to 50% of the total qualified investments for the tax year in which the investment was made. The credit must be taken in the year the qualified investment was made, and any amount in excess of the taxpayer’s tax liability may be either refunded or carried forward to offset future tax liabilities. This credit is available for tax years 2014 – 2019.  READ MORE

Joe Kriesberg and David Bryant recently met with Steve Grossman and his staff from the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) to learn about two of their programs designed to help small businesses develop, thrive and grow at different stages. Here is a brief overview of the programs, Inner City Capital Connections and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses (10KSB) programs. We urge you to share this information with small business partners in your communities.

Both the Inner City Capital Connections Program (ICCC) and 10KSB Program help small businesses at different stages of their growth cycle. The 10KSB program provides the foundational tools necessary to build a growth plan. The Inner City Capital Connections Program works with companies who have a growth plan to help them build capacity and access capital needed to drive continued growth.

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Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) is a national program designed to accelerate small business growth and access to capital. ICCC helps firms in the growth-to-exit stage overcome obstacles to reach their respective goals. Our participants experience different business challenges from the need for capital to restructuring growth strategies.

Our executive education will be held in Philadelphia, Birmingham, Dallas and Boston. The culminating conference will be held in New York.

Companies must have the following qualifications:

• Independent, for-profit corporation, partnership or proprietorship
• Inner city location—headquarters or 51%+ of physical operations in economically distressed urban areas of the U.S. or have 40% or more of your employees residing in an economically distressed area.
• Revenues of $2 million or more in 2014.

If you have any questions, please email Hyacinth Vassell at hvassell@icic.org.

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Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is a world class entrepreneurship education program that provides small business owners with the opportunity to step away from day-to-day operations and focus on growth. In professional workshops, business owners will:

• Learn from some of the brightest minds in business
• Explore opportunities to access financial capital
• Build a powerful network of professional support

If accepted, program tuition is at no cost to the business owner!

With the launch of 10,000 Small Businesses at Babson College in late 2013, the 10,000 Small Businessesprogram is now available to business owners from all 50 states. This unique model of the program, our National Cohort, connects small business owners with a nationally-sourced class of peers for 11 weeks of practical business education delivered through a blend of online facilitated learning and on campus sessions at Babson College. All business owners graduate with a customized 5-year strategic growth plan for their business.

There is no cost to apply, and all accepted business owners receive a full scholarship to participate. All reasonable travel and accommodation costs associated with the trips to Babson College are covered as part of this scholarship.

The program’s qualifying criteria are as follows:

• The applicant is a small business owner or small business co-owner
• The business has been in operation for at least two years
• The business revenues were are at least $150,000 in the most recent fiscal year
• The business has a minimum of four employees (including the owner)

The application deadline for the upcoming fall 2015 National Cohort is April 20^th, 2015. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so business owners are encouraged to apply early! For more information, please visit www.10ksbapply.com or email 10KSB@icic.org