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.

MACDC held its first Office Manager Peer Group on May 13. It was an exciting meeting with all in attendance noting how wonderful it was to meet in person. During the course of the meeting, we realized that not everyone who works in an administrative role at a CDC has the opportunity to get out of the office and dedicate time to developing their skills and networking with their counterparts. It is critical that our field’s administrative staff have the same opportunities to develop new skills and connections as any other professional. This is why I have come up with the top three reasons you should encourage your office administrator to attend the office manager peer group.

1. Professional Development: Because this is a working group, we identified critical areas for growth. Each peer group meeting will consist of a mini training. Over the course of the next year, we will be learning about new feature sets in Microsoft Office, with particular focus on Excel and PowerPoint, along with other tools and resources that will further strengthen and broaden the skills of each participant.
2. Building Connections: Networking at annual meetings and other events is not always easy when there aren’t many people in your role in the room. Building your professional network is just as important for administrative staff as it is for executive leadership. It provides a critical resource when feedback or ideas are needed to solve a problem, in addition to developing and expanding an organization’s administrative role and further providing value to a nonprofit’s bottom line and mission.
3. Improved Office Culture: Let’s face it, not every office is an easy place to work. Sometimes having certain issues heard by others who may have similar experiences can be a game changer. It can improve the way we manage the office by taking what was shared and applying it. Having a fresh perspective can also help detach oneself from a situation and gain a new perspective. It’s not uncommon for administrative staff to be a part-time office therapist, so finding better ways to deal with conflict and help bring staff together can dramatically increase the productivity of the organization.

Administrative support staff are critical members of an organization’s team that help connect all the moving parts, programs and departments. If administrative staff learn best practices, they spend less time on trial and error and are better able to save the organization time and money.  We help make all the various components of an organization better. 

Help us spread the word about this new peer group. Please share with your Office Manager or Admin Person.

Our next office manager peer group will be held on June 11, 9:30 AM, at Boston LISC.

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.