MACDC is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a five-year grant for its Housing Quality and Health (HQH) Equity Initiative. The grant from the Massachusetts Community Health and Aging Funds will support MACDC’s efforts to address racial health inequities caused by poor quality housing. 

MACDC is among 24 nonprofit organizations that were collectively awarded $15.6 million in grants in three core areas.  Three CDCs- Community Development Partnership, Community Teamwork, and Southeast Asian Coalition of Central MA- also received awards.  MACDC’s award, in the core area of creating long-lasting, community-driven policy, systems, and environmental changes, will focus on addressing the health hazards posed by lead paint and poor indoor air quality. 

In order to address racial health inequities resulting from poor housing quality, MACDC will concentrate its initial work in 5 Gateway Cities which we will select based on need and on the potential to address the problems identified. In these cities, ultimately, we aim to secure new resources to address housing quality problems that impact health, and substantially improve housing quality. Our immediate focus will be on intensive community engagement in these cities: with municipal leaders, CDCs, community residents, and other grassroots organizations. With these community representatives, we will identify the local housing quality problems and their health manifestations, particularly for households of color and low-income households.  

Concurrently, MACDC will: 

Commission a report, which will document the extent of housing quality problems linked to lead paint and poor indoor air quality statewide, document the resources and programs available to address these problems, and identify the gaps in addressing the housing quality problems, and their disproportionate impact on the populations described in the prior paragraph.  

Work to secure new resources to significantly improve the housing quality in these cities, and thereby improve resident health. Ultimately, the plan is to utilize the knowledge gained from the local work, and the additional resources secured, to scale up efforts to address housing quality problems in communities across the Commonwealth. 

The HQH Equity Initiative will build upon the work of the HQH Task Force, a group of experienced practitioners consisting of advocates in the health equity, housing, elder and disability fields; healthcare providers; and data professionals- who have guided MACDC’s housing quality and health work over the past year. 

The work will be co-staffed at MACDC by Elana Brochin, Program Director for Health Equity, and Don Bianchi, Director of Housing. If you have any questions, you can reach out to Don at donb@macdc.org.

In August and September of 2022, the Resident Leadership Academy had the wonderful opportunity to send our staff Sarah Byrnes, Resident Leadership Academy Director and Tiana Lawrence, Mel King Institute Program Associate along with several RLA trainers to participate in the overnight Retreat and Renewal program at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, MA. Kripalu is a well-known nonprofit educational organization that is centered on centuries-old teachings of yoga, mindfulness, and both personal and communal transformation. CLICK HERE to read more.

The Mel King Institute mourns the passing of Thomas Ruffen, who worked as a trainer at our Resident Leadership Academy. Thomas was an incredibly gifted organizer and community leader. His death is a senseless tragedy for the Mildred C. Hailey community and beyond. He will be missed by our staff, trainers, and the public housing residents he trained throughout Massachusetts.

In March the Mel King Institute recorded Thomas telling the story of how he, other residents, and GBIO secured $50 million in badly needed funding for Mildred C. Hailey. The story is available here.

As summer begins to wind down, many of us are beginning to plan our calendars for the fall. As you begin to do this, you will want to make sure that you include the MACDC Convention and Annual Meeting on Saturday, October 29 at Polar Park in Worcester (and online via Zoom).

The MACDC Convention (which happens just once every four years!) is always a special event.  It is not only the biggest community development event on the calendar in Massachusetts, but it is also a special opportunity to advance our theme for the day: United Communities Building Together!

Given the challenges of the past two-plus years, the need for unity and collective action within the community development field has never been greater.  That is why this event will bring together everyone in our field - CDC board members, community leaders, tenants, community development professionals, public officials, private sector allies, and others for day of celebration and collective action.  It will offer a unique set of opportunities:  

An opportunity to pause and celebrate

Notwithstanding the challenges and heartaches of the past two-plus years, indeed because of them, the Convention offers an important opportunity to pause and celebrate. And thankfully we have many exciting things to celebrate, including MACDC’s 40th anniversary as the policy and capacity building arm of the community development field.  We will recognize the extraordinary resiliency of our field and our communities in the face of unprecedented challenges. We will celebrate outstanding individuals and organizations that have made a difference in people’s lives. And we will celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the Community Investment Tax Credit – an example of what we can accomplished when we come together as a field to shape state policy.

An opportunity to build power and shape state policy

While we have much to celebrate, we also have much to left to do. So, this Convention, like our past events, will also focus on the future and taking collective action to shape it for the better.

One of the key elements of our Convention will be the Gubernatorial Candidate Forum.  The winner of the Governor’s race has attended our Convention for each of the past four election cycles and each time we have engaged those candidates with specific questions about their policy agenda and requested their support for specific policies. In response, the candidates have embraced key MACDC priorities such as the Small Business Technical Assistance program, the Community Investment Tax Credit, and closing racial homeownership disparities.  We will be inviting both of this year’s candidates to come and speak with us and to answer specific questions about their proposed policy agenda.   This will be our chance to demonstrate the power of United Communities, Building Together to the next Governor.

An opportunity to build your network

Regardless of your connection to the community development field, this event deserves a spot on your fall calendar because the Convention is always fun, inspiring, educational, and most importantly, impactful.  The MACDC Convention will offer something for everyone:

CDC Board members can connect with fellow board members across CDCs and learn about how they are addressing various challenges and opportunities in their organizations and communities. 

Tenants, community members, and other neighborhood activists can network with and learn from others doing similar work, while also joining with the broader movement to build power and push for major policy change.

Community development professionals can connect with longstanding colleagues and expand their professional networks

Private sector leaders from foundations, financial institutions, small businesses, real estate firms, and others can re-connect with colleagues, get to know more CDCs and community development professionals, and demonstrate support for the CDC field.

MACDC Alumni, including former board members, staff, and interns, can rejoin the movement and see the results of their hard work at MACDC.

An opportunity to pay it forward

Of course, none of this happens without you and others making the trip to Worcester or joining us on-line. The magic of the convention is the scale and diversity of who is there.  Your presence will make the networking and relationship building more impactful for everyone who attends.  Your presence will help us honor our award winners and give meaning to the 40^th anniversary celebration.  Your presence will help us build momentum for our racial equity work. Your presence will help drive our policy agenda and make a powerful impression on the next Governor.  Your presence will demonstrate the collective power of United Communities, Building Together.

We look forward to seeing you!

On August 10th, the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) published the final guidelines to determine compliance with section 3A of the Zoning Act—the new requirement for every MBTA community to have at least one zoning district in which multi-family housing is allowed as of right, and which is located near a transit station, if applicable. 

The final guidelines incorporated changes from the draft guidelines, in response to extensive stakeholder comments, outlined in a letter to local officials.

EOHED is holding a webinar on September 8th at 1 p.m. to go over the guidelines; if you go to the guidelines page, and scroll down toward the bottom, you can register for the webinar.  

Despite the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, and significant increases in construction and other costs, project sponsors continue to develop much-needed affordable housing, with the ongoing support of the MA Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). On July 26th, in Falmouth, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, DHCD Undersecretary Jennifer Maddox, and local officials announced awards for 26 affordable housing developments, which collectively will create or preserve 1,474 rental homes, with 1,326 of these being affordable. 

Eight of the projects were sponsored, or co-sponsored, by MACDC’s Members.  Collectively they compose 368 units, with 316 of these being affordable. They include the following: 

• Anchor Point II in Beverly, sponsored by Harborlight Community Partners, is the second phase of a new construction project for families. It will offer 39 apartments, all affordable. Construction is well underway on the adjacent Anchor Point I project. 
• Carol Avenue Rehab is an existing family housing project located in Boston’s Allston neighborhood. Sponsored by Allston-Brighton CDC, the project will feature 33 fully rehabilitated units, including 25 affordable units. 
• In Nubian Square in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, Nuestra Comunidad, in partnership with Windale Developers, will newly construct Bartlett Station V.  When completed, the project, which will be built to Passive House standards, will offer 44 total units, including 33 affordable units. 
• Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH) will newly construct Aileron in East Boston, which will provide 36 units, all affordable. 
• 2085 Washington Street is a new construction, mixed-income project located in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. Madison Park Development Corporation, in partnership with Trinity Financial, is sponsoring the project, which will be built to Passive House standards, and will provide 64 rental units, 44 of them affordable. 
• Lincoln School, in Brockton, is an historic adaptive re-use project, sponsored by NeighborWorks Housing Solutions. When completed, the project will offer 37 total units for seniors, all affordable. 
• Just A Start will newly construct 52 New Street in Cambridge. The project, which will be built to Passive House standards will provide 107 units, including 97 affordable units. 
• Hillman Firehouse Restoration in New Bedford is a historic adaptive re-use project, sponsored by Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE (WHALE).  When construction is completed, the project will offer eight total units, including 5 affordable units. 

On July 19th in Worcester, Lt. Governor Polito was joined by senior Administration officials and Worcester’s Mayor and Acting City Manager to announce Permanent Supportive Housing awards. The awards went to 11 projects, which collectively will provide 237 permanent housing units and 200 shelter beds for families and individuals. 

The MA Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), working with the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), awarded more than $31 million in direct subsidies, tax credits, and housing vouchers. 

Among the 11 projects awarded funding, 6 are sponsored by MACDC Members.  They include: 

• NeighborWorks Housing Solutions, in partnership with Father Bills & Mainspring, is developing 150 Pleasant Street in Attleboro, which will create 22 new supportive housing units and 18 emergency shelter beds. 
• In creating Warren Street Housing, Commonwealth Land Trust will rehabilitate 26 single-room occupancy (SRO) units in 2 buildings, in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. 
• 35 Harvey Street in Cambridge is an occupied rehabilitation project, sponsored by Homeowners Rehab Inc., which will provide 12 SRO units with individuals bathrooms and kitchenettes. 
• Harborlight Community Partners, working with The Haven Project, will construct Catalyst Housing in Lynn, an historic re-use that will provide 24 studio units. 
• New Point Apartments is an 18-unit historic preservation project in Salem, sponsored by North Shore CDC. 
• Home City Development will newly construct 275 Chestnut Supportive Housing at the site of the former YMCA building in Springfield, providing 29 SRO units. 

The Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC), on Wednesday, August 10^th, released its 2022 GOALs Report, which reflects data collected from calendar year 2021. The report shows that, in 2021, CDCs in Massachusetts collectively invested $1.453 Billion in local communities – the largest annual investment made by CDCs in their history.

The MACDC GOALs Report, first launched in 2002, is the most comprehensive tracking of CDC performance in the Commonwealth. It measures performance across six areas of community development: 1) resident leaders engaged; 2) homes built or preserved; 3) job opportunities created or preserved; 4) entrepreneurs supported; 5) families supported; and 6) funds invested in communities through CDCs.

In 2021, as communities continued to recover and rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic, CDCs played an essential role in community resilience, and in efforts to redress and reduce- and make progress toward eliminating- unjust disparities in the pandemic’s impacts.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that these impacts are greater than in 2020. However, in comparing the collective impact of CDCs in 2021 to 2019, pre-COVID, CDC contributions to community resilience jump off the page!

• 1,717 homes were created or preserved, 11% more than in 2019
• 6,744 jobs were created or preserved, a 62% increase from 2019
• 3,416 entrepreneurs were provided technical or financial assistance, almost 3 times the 1,256 entrepreneurs provided such assistance in 2019
• 86,124 families were served, 23% more than in 2019
• $1.45 billion was invested, a 58% increase from 2019.

MACDC would like to thank our member CDCs for participating in the GOALs Survey, and recognize them for the amazing work they continue to do in their communities year over year. We would also like to thank the Massachusetts Housing Partnership for supporting the MACDC GOALs Initiative.

Read the full report.

For MACDC and our members, we ended the legislative session feeling accomplished about numerous wins in the state operating budget including, level funding of $7M for Small Business Technical Assistance, over $30M in grants to small businesses, and $15M for the Community Empowerment and Reinvestment grant program. However, in a disappointing turn of events the session ended with the Legislature neglecting to finalize the Economic Development Bill. For MACDC, this meant leaving over $400M for affordable housing and over $75M to BIPOC small businesses unfinished. We hope that the legislature will address these critical issues during informal sessions this fall. 

Throughout the session MACDC also advocated and organized around numerous policy initiatives that would help to create healthier homes across the Commonwealth, increase dedicated funding for affordable housing and climate change, provide tenants an opportunity to purchase their homes, and decarbonize existing buildings. Although progress was made building support for these programs and educating leaders about their importance, in the end the following pieces of legislation did not pass this session:  

• Massachusetts Healthy Homes Initiative (MHHI)  
• Housing and Environment Revenue Opportunity (HERO) Act  
• Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA)  
• Zero Carbon Renovation Fund   

As we work on our planning this fall for the upcoming 2023/2024 legislative session, the continuation of these campaigns will remain top of mind.