MACDC Supporting and Serving our Members

While the ever growing community impact of foreclosures and the opportunities presented by both the Innovation Forum and Training Institute have received much focus at MACDC, we continue to do the important work of fully supporting the Massachusetts community development field by both developing resources and leading learning initiatives and capacity building programs for our members.

Below are some of the professional development and trainings MACDC offered in 2008:

  • National Development Council Training: During FY 2008, MACDC offered the first training sessions in the four-part certification program offered on rental housing development finance conducted by National Development Council.
  • Overview of Foreclosure Process and Options Available to Delinquent Homeowners (with Lawyer’s Clearinghouse)
  • Small Business Lending and Technical Assistance (with the Small Business Development Advisory Council)
  • Strategies for Selling Deed Restricted Homeownership Units (with LISC)
  • Leadership opportunities in community development and professional networking (with the Alliance: Advancing Community Development by Confronting Racism.)
  • Diversity and confronting racism (with the Alliance: Advancing Community Development by Confronting Racism.)

In addition, MACDC regularly convenes groups of community economic development professionals for peer learning and information sharing sessions. These groups were organized by topic (e.g. real estate development, small business development, youth development) and by region (e.g. Boston, Western Mass) and by job position (e.g. community organizers.) We held a total of 28 meetings during FY 2008 with 230 participants.

MACDC continues to promote diversity and the advancement of leaders of color within the community economic field by playing a leadership role in The Alliance: Advancing Community Development by Confronting Racism. MACDC worked with the Alliance’s Recruitment Committee to publish "A New Approach for the Community Development Field", the Alliance’s new Recruitment, Hiring, Retention, and Advancement manual. We also hosted a forum on how CDCs can use the manual to diversify their staffs, board and overall organization. MACDC presented the manual both at the Washington, DC annual meeting of NACEDA and for the North Carolina Association of CDC.

MACDC continues to run the Community Development Mentoring Program (CDMP) designed to advance staff of color into leadership positions in the field. In FY 2008 MACDC completed its second round of its mentoring program with 14 people participating. We launched the recruitment phase for the third round of mentoring with a June forum on changing styles of non-profit leadership. We also established a new Advisory Committee which is comprised of former program participants and staff from Alliance member organizations such as The Partnership Inc, NeighborWorks America, Southern New Hampshire University and The City of Boston.

Every year we publish the annual Growing Opportunities, Assets and Leaders across the Commonwealth (GOALs) Report. This report documents how Massachusetts CDCs achieve concrete results in the communities they serve. Using an on-line survey to collect the data and comparing it to a five year goal, CDCs document how they are investing in communities and families.

The 2008 survey found that our members achieved the following in 2007:

  • Engaged 1,795 community resident leaders;
  • Built or preserved 1,352 homes;
  • Created or preserved 2,154 job opportunities;
  • Helped 1,262 locally-owned businesses start, grow or stabilize their businesses;
  • Provided economic and educational opportunities to 30,882 families; and
  • Attracted $286 million in private and public investment to revitalize our communities.

CDCs continue to transform urban, suburban and rural communities and the lives of thousands of families. Yet this work is unrecognized and undervalued. MACDC commits itself to supporting CDCs in their mission-driven work.