On November 3rd, Joe Kriesberg, MACDC's President, was recognized by CHAPA with a Community Service Award for his incredible accomplishments successfully advocating for critical resources to further support and drive increased community economic development across the Commonwealth.  While the recognition by CHAPA is quite an honor, the comments LISC Boston Executive Director, Bob Van Meter, spoke to the genuine passion and character of Joe and how he has dedicated his professional career to advocating for issues and causes for which he deeply cares.  Bob's comments are below:---Thank you.  It is my pleasure and honor to present the next award.Joe Kriesberg has provided leadership at the state and national level for the community development field and all those concerned about low- and moderate-income neighborhoods for more than twenty years.Joe has served as President and CEO of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations for over thirteen years. I was board chair of MACDC in 2002 when we made the decision to hire Joe as President.  I count that as the best hiring decision I ever made.  It was in fact, a no brainer, as Joe had served very ably on the staff of MACDC since 1993.As President of MACDC, he has worked to increase the power and voice of CDCs and the communities where they work.  Joe initiated biannual MACDC conventions bringing together hundreds of leaders from all over the state.  These have now become a required stop for candidates for the Commonwealth’s corner office.He has led a renewal of the community development movement in Massachusetts by winning passage of a new enabling statue for CDCs and an updated state certification process that has focused on comprehensive approaches to neighborhood development.Joe led the way in founding the Mel King Institute for Community Building, which has proved an important and durable vehicle for building the capacity of CDC staff and leaders and allies.Joe has led on housing issues, serving as co-chair of Mayor Walsh’s transition team on housing and helping to win increases in housing resources at the city level.At a time when there was a void in national advocacy, Joe led the way in creating a new national voice for community development as a founding board member of the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations (NACEDA).  Joe has been a leader of NACEDA since its inception and speaks regularly to NACEDA member associations around the country.Though Joe never served as a CDC executive director or a project manager, he has demonstrated time and again the qualities that all of you know are key to success in community and affordable housing development, grit and persistence.His work to win passage of the Community Investment Tax Credit showed all of that.  Joe stayed focused on the goal and made it his job to insure that Governor Patrick and the legislature did too.  For a period of weeks when Governor Patrick’s support for the legislation was uncertain, Joe made sure that at every ground breaking or ribbon cutting where Governor Patrick appeared, he would be there and that the Governor’s office would be deluged with calls from community development leaders.   In the last days of this saga, Joe and the rest of the MACDC staff were on their annual summer outing, a walking tour of the African American Freedom trail on Beacon Hill, when they encountered Governor Patrick walking his dog and Joe crossed the street to speak to the Governor.  The Governor responded, “You can stop Joe. I will sign the bill.” And he did of course.MACDC won passage of the Community Investment Tax Credit and with Joe leading the way to help implement the credit, $4.7 million flowed to support CDCs across the state in the first year.I know Joe would want me to remind all of you tonight that we have the opportunity to invest $60 million in the future of our neighborhoods over the next five years using the 50% Community Investment Tax Credit, but we need all of you to join Joe in helping us make it a success.

On September 29th, Urban Edge welcomed Frank Shea as their new Executive Director.  Prior to joining Urban Edge, Frank was the Executive Director of the Olneyville Housing Corporation in Rhode Island for fifteen years.  During this time, Frank grew the organization from two staff to fourteen with an annual operating budget over $1.5 million.

Viet-AID announced yesterday that Hue Pham was their new Executive Director.  MACDC's board and staff looks forward to working with Ms. Pham as she builds upon Viet-AID's 21 year legacy of successfully helping lead the revitalization of the Field's Corner neighborhood in Dorchester.

MACDC set out earlier this year to learn more about what our members are doing to participate within and grow the creative economy here in Massachusetts. We knew our members were involved in a wide variety of activities, but what we learned surprised even us!

According to our newly released report, Creative Community Development in Massachusetts,  22 CDCs are actively engaged in fostering the creative economy, while 17 are involved in creative placemaking and 14 use arts and culture in their community organizing work (a total of 29 groups responded to our survey).  Clearly, CDCs across Massachusetts are investing significant time, energy and resources to stimulate and draw upon creative enterprises and expression to further their organization’s mission and goals.

Some of MACDC’s members have been engaged in these efforts for decades, while others are new to exploring methods where an emphasis on creative engagement through arts, literature and music, can further transform their work. Their activities may add renewed vitality to their communities and further transform neighborhoods and towns across Massachusetts. An emphasis on local culture and geography is a way for people to celebrate their communities, connect with a transcendent history – through art, music and storytelling – and reimagine a vibrant future view of a community that connects seamlessly with its past.  And the trend line is clear – more and more groups are incorporating the arts into their work in exciting and creative ways.

Learn more about what CDCs are doing to develop and support the creative economy in their regions through our report:  “Creative Community Development in Massachusetts.”

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.