NextGenCD: A Sense of Belonging

Jason Arnolod,
NeighborWorks Community Scholar,
Kansas City

In honor of the upcoming NeighborWorks America Young Professionals symposium, we have collected several blog posts from those under 35 asking their feelings on the meaning of community development. Share your comments on Twitter using #NextGenCD or follow Jason using @RepresentKC.
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A community is a place where people live, usually defined by a geographic region or another characteristic.  Community development  is a highly multifaceted field.  For some, it is a chance to own a home.  For others, it is an opportunity to build a career around helping people.  For underserved neighborhoods, it is often English as a second language classes, rental assistance, or after school student services.  A simple definition might be: “Community development gives people a chance to live their lives." 

In today’s world that is no easy thing. Globalization has reached into every corner of the planet, affecting our economies in a way that is still not understood. Shifting demographics have challenged our cultural and economic landscape, prompting us to learn new ways of doing things (see Sir Ken Robinson’s video on revolutionizing education).

A butterfly captures the mood on Lykins Neighborhood
Community Farm, Northeast Kansas City

My home state of Wyoming is built on the country’s largest coal reserves. That meant that I would enter either a low-wage service economy or the energy industry. So I did what many young people do. I left. I served with the Peace Corps in El Salvador for two years, and, when I returned, I saw my country with new eyes. There were opportunities literally everywhere. There were also enormous challenges.  While I had never been very motivated by climbing the career ladder (perhaps that’s why I was in the Peace Corps in the first place?), I found that I was now driven by a strong desire to do...something. This is not an unfamiliar story.  The question was, what? That is how I found myself living in Kansas City, studying entrepreneurship. I joined a young community of urban farmers with the goal of bringing local produce to market. 

My dream as a community development professional is to live and work in the same community. I want my children to belong.  I do not want to build a career as an outsider, delivering services to people who view me as an extension of some federal policy.  I want the life that I have been promising to people.  Do I still want to serve people?  Of course.  The difference is that I want to do it together.  And this time I am on familiar turf.  I speak the native language.  This is my home.  

In the last year of my service in El Salvador, I was befriended by several families.  They welcomed me into their homes and taught me about their way of life.  I was tremendously encouraged to have these relationships, since cultural isolation is very real.  I now hope to bring the same attitude to my work here in the states.  If you are an outsider, a foreigner in this community, I want you to know that you are welcome here.  That is how I was treated and I can offer no less.

My daughter, Annabelle, models for a
renovation project. Northeast Kansas City. 

Communities Find Success with Nontraditional Forms of Homeownership

This thought piece was originally published August 7, 2012 on the Bipartisan Policy Center's website. The questions were: Do alternative forms of homeownership, such as shared equity models and rent-to-own programs, present viable alternatives for future homeownership? Can they be taken to scale in a way that can encourage stabilization of neighborhoods and housing markets?

By Eileen Fitzgerald
Chief Executive Officer
NeighborWorks America

NeighborWorks believes that community stabilization requires a comprehensive approach to housing opportunities, which employs strategies that support traditional and nontraditional forms of homeownership, as well as rental options. This approach includes providing affordable inventory and low-cost accessible mortgage financing.

We certainly support alternative forms of homeownership, like shared equity and rent-to-own, as part of the strategy. Alternative homeownership models benefit people and communities. For generations, families with the resources to do so have lent money so their children can buy homes prior to inheriting wealth. This is an informal shared equity model which can overcome the inheritance gap. Formalized shared equity models or lease-to-own programs provide a way for people with less privileged social networks to achieve homeownership, and provide for long-term affordability, benefiting future generations. Done correctly these models not only provide an affordable homeownership option, they come along with education and support to make sure they are a sustainable arrangement for residents.

A number of NeighborWorks organizations have had success with shared equity and lease-to-own models. For instance, Durham Community Land Trustees and Champlain Housing Trust in Vermont have effectively used the land trust model to build homeownership opportunities for lower income families. Beyond Housing in St. Louis, Missouri has had success with its lease-to-own program.

There are new opportunities for scaling up nontraditional homeownership approaches that face challenges, but are worth exploring. Sometimes these strategies are resource intensive, so it is important to develop the organizational and external (legal, financing) infrastructure necessary for success. Local market conditions can also dictate what resources are needed to achieve success. For instance, one of the best places to use shared equity is a community with an inclusionary housing requirement, as is currently happening in an Austin, Texas program run by Habitat for Humanity. In those communities, little or no additional capital is needed to undertake the model.

In closing, we believe the best way to further community stabilization is through multiple strategies, which support many different forms of homeownership, as well as rental housing. All of those elements of a successful approach require flexible resources that can sustain plans tailored to the needs and resources available in each community.

NextGenCD: Imagery as Identity

 In honor of the upcoming NeighborWorks America Young Professionals symposium, we have collected several blog posts from those under 35 asking their feelings on the meaning of community development. Share your comments on Twitter using #NextGenCD.
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Reneé Bibby,
marketing coordinator,
Primavera Foundation

About six years ago I had a strange experience: I was watching a reality TV show, when I discovered that one of the contestants, a young woman of mixed heritage, resembled me. My ethnic heritage is an uncommon mix, and my racial ambiguity has forced me to engage in dialogues surrounding race on a rather regular basis. But, while I’d studied issues of race in college, my emotional connection to the issue had been rather micro; I thought mainly of race in relation to my day-to-day interactions with other people. Discovering a person on TV who had skin color like me, who had the same texture of hair as me, created powerful exhilaration and pride. Seeing myself reflected—even for the briefest moment—in the media prompted a personal and professional revolution, which directly affects my work with Primavera Foundation’s community development services.

As the marketing coordinator, I complete all the photography and design work for our organization, which means I also work with the communities that partner with Primavera Foundation to build healthy, thriving neighborhoods. I am in a unique position to serve as conduit for the families, the individuals, and the community as a whole to become bright beacons in a dark media landscape.I make it my personal mission to meet with our participants, to hear their stories, photograph them, and provide a forum to share that with a wider audience.

First time Hispanic single female homebuyer helped by Primavera photo courtesy of Primavera Foundation

Tohono O'odham homeowner in south Tuscon photo courtesy of Primavera Foundation

It means something for people to see their imprint in the world. I’ve experienced that personally, so I understand what it means when we create those opportunities into our community development work.  I choose to use photographs, stories, design, and language that reflect who they are, and who they want to be—allowing the communities to have creative ways of saying, “We are here. We exist.” So that, hopefully, in the years to come, a young woman of color can look at into the wider world and say, “I see myself here.” And that won’t be a rare moment for her.

NextGenCD: Evolving Definitions

In honor of the upcoming NeighborWorks America Young Professionals symposium, we have collected several blog posts from those under 35 asking their feelings on the meaning of community development. Share your comments on Twitter using #NextGenCD.
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Dani Rosen, NeighborWorks America
community scholar intern
NFMC Quality Control and Compliance

At each stage of my academic and professional life, “community development" has emerged as a different issue, program, or agenda. My interest in community development started at the local level – while I was working as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in Hudson County, New Jersey. While there, I saw community development as an effort to increase access to resources for families and individuals in need. This definition broadened while I studied as a Master of Urban Planning student at New York University (NYU). In the classroom, I learned about community development as neighborhood organizing. For example, the way Jane Jacobs fought to preserve the local character of homes and shops in Greenwich Village, New York.

Unfortunately though, I also came to understand that in many areas the phrase "community development" is used as a disguise for potentially unwanted change in a community in transition. Developers and city officials use the term to smooth over the introduction of out-of-context buildings or large commercial developments that could alter the nature of a specific neighborhood.

I currently understand community development as an investment in a specific area. The investment can be financial, political, or social and the area specified can be a block, a neighborhood, or a metro-area. With the right motives and support community development can make a substantial impact.  The strength of community development can best be seen in the depth and breadth of projects and programs available.

Image courtesy of Creative Commons

Community gardens are a great example of what community development can achieve at the local level. Community gardens have become incredibly popular in urban areas in the past few years. They come in all shapes and sizes and bring many different advantages to an area. Community gardens are social and financial investments that provide both education and opportunity for social interactions. They provide fresh produce, often to those who lack other access to fruits and vegetables. They also reinforce the connection to local land as residents work to transform patches of dirt into small, but beautiful natural spaces.

At the state level, community development has the potential to benefit a much larger audience. NJ After 3 is an initiative to provide quality after school programming for school-aged children in New Jersey.  The program goals include reducing gang involvement and increasing scholastic enrichment so that all members of the community have the opportunity for a better future. NJ After 3, and similar programs, fill a gap by giving working parents more structured time for their children when parents cannot be at home.

There are countless additional examples of community development addressing other issues at multiple levels of focus.  The value of each program rests in the benefits that are brought to the individuals and families involved.  Community development has the potential to be a “catch all” phrase but I think that is one of the most important strengths of the field. Because community development includes many different types of investments in a range of geographic sizes, successes are magnified and can be celebrated by the entire field.

Rebuilding Market Demand: The Neighborhood Marketing Program

By Ascala Sisk, senior manager,
Neighborhood Stabilization
NeighborWorks America

In recent years NeighborWorks has launched a number of initiatives to respond to the impact foreclosed and vacant properties have on families and communities.  Now we are pleased to add another tool to the foreclosure response and community stabilization toolbox. Last week, NeighborWorks America’s Stable Communities Initiative publicly launched the Neighborhood Marketing Program, a new initiative to stabilize communities by helping to restore stakeholder confidence and build market demand.

We started this program understanding efforts to stabilize communities need to do more than restore housing. To build strong communities, the case needs to be made for investment, both by current and by future residents and businesses. For that reason, we are supporting a group of high capacity organizations that have made significant neighborhood investments with additional tools and funding to work with resident leaders to reframe the image of their community, improve stakeholder perceptions and build market demand. 

Sixteen organizations in the NeighborWorks Network were competitively selected to participate in the 2012-2013 pilot program.These organizations will receive approximately $50,000 in grants and technical assistance to create neighborhood marketing and branding campaigns. Over the next several months, all of the recipients of the Neighborhood Marketing Initiative grants will begin working with residents, stakeholders and marketing coaches to develop plans to move their communities forward.  

At NeighborWorks, we see the Neighborhood Marketing Initiative as a natural extension of our existing leadership in helping residents, local nonprofits, and other businesses respond to the foreclosure crisis and build strong communities. As part of that, CEO Eileen Fitzgerald, pledged the Neighborhood Marketing Program as the NeighborWorks America commitment to action at the recent Clinton Global Initiative America. With this public commitment, we hope to engage more partners in supporting this and similar neighborhood-based recovery efforts.

Check out www.StableCommunities.org/marketing for more on the program and updates on how things are going. You can also download our new case studies report here.

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