About MACDC

From Mark Dohan

"Our Senator supported both MACDC amendments to the FY09 budget because of our "Donuts" meeting in February. He met a small business owner that we had counseled and responded to our plea for help with funding for the state’s lead paint abatement program."

Marc Dohan
Twin Cities CDC

2008 Annual Report Table of Contents

The LIFT Campaign

LIFT Campaign

In the fall of 2006, MACDC announced the LIFT Campaign – Local Investments For Tomorrow. LIFT included legislation which would stabilize and improve neighborhoods and communities by expanding housing opportunities and strengthening locally owned businesses. Significant gains were made during the 2007-08 legislative session on four of the five major platforms of the LIFT Campaign. Those gains include:

  • Co-leading the coalition that passed one of the most comprehensive foreclosure prevention laws in the nation, Chapter 206 (see section on the Foreclosure crisis for more on this significant victory).
  • Doubled funding for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to $40 million and secured a $1.275 billion Housing Bond Bill.
  • Established a new line item for $750,000 for the small business technical assistance in FY08 and increased funding by over 67% to $1.26 Million in FY09 in a lean budget year.
  • Helped to broker a compromise bill on expiring use and shepherded the bill through the State House; it unanimously passed the Senate this session, had the support of the Governor and almost passed the House on the last night of the session.

In addition, MACDC played a crucial role in securing $4 million in grant awards from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) under its Production Support Program (PSP), to support the capacity of nonprofit community-based housing developers. MACDC successfully advocated with MHP to increase the funding available from $3 million during 2005-2007 to $4 million over the next three years. Over 80 percent of the awards went to MACDC members to build affordable housing in their communities.

In 2008, MACDC launched the Donuts with Your Delegation initiative.  It encourages our members to host their state representatives and senators in the district either at the main office or an off-site location that represented the work of the member. So often legislators come for ribbon-cuttings or other “photo events” but rarely do they have a chance to sit down and learn from CDC board and staff about the daily work of their organizations. 

Between January and March of 2008, CDCs around the state met with their state legislative delegation to talk about their work, learn what was happening in the State House and ate some breakfast together.  These sessions, combined with our annual lobby day, multiple phone calls and letters and persistent advocacy in the State House helped us win the victories noted above.

These recent budgetary, legislative and administrative successes demonstrate that MACDC and its members have the capacity and organizational power to be effective community development advocates. As we prepare for the 2009-2010 legislative session, we will continue to work on housing and economic issues, including foreclosures, funding for housing development, small business development, neighborhood stabilization and support for the community economic development infrastructure.