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Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses Hearing 

On Tuesday May 27th, Yari DeJesus, Director of Economic Development at MACDC, and Kim Lyle, CEO of Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation and Chair of MACDC’s Board of Directors, participated in an Informational Hearing held by the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses. They shared pressing challenges facing small business owners in the Commonwealth, including those served by Dorchester Bay, particularly around social, economic, and environmental barriers to growth. They emphasized the importance of increased support for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), especially in light of potential reductions to the federal CDFI Fund, and called for sustained investments in the small business technical assistance program that help entrepreneurs navigate administrative and financial hurdles. They also highlighted the critical role of microlending in expanding access to capital for underserved entrepreneurs, particularly for small-dollar loans used for working capital, inventory, equipment, or startup costs. The testimony offered both a sobering look at current challenges and practical recommendations to strengthen the Commonwealth’s small business ecosystem. 

Taylor J. Robinson, MPH, PhDc is MACDC’s new Health Equity Intern. Her work supports the planning and implementation of MACDC’s Housing Quality and Health Equity Initiative.  

Taylor is currently a doctoral candidate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she studies the intersection of housing, environment, and sleep health through the lens of social epidemiology. As a T32 trainee in Sleep, Circadian, and Respiratory Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, her research interrogates how neighborhood environments, housing conditions, and environmental exposures shape sleep quality in Boston and the wider U.S. population. Her dissertation leverages Fitbit data and indoor temperature measurements to inform community-driven policy solutions.  

Prior to her doctoral training, Taylor earned her MPH in Epidemiology and her BA in Communications and Applied Statistics from the University of Pittsburgh. She has previously worked as a Rappaport Public Policy Fellow at the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. Her commitment to housing justice and health advancement is also reflected in her work with the NIH, the CDC, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and Harvard’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights. In her free time, you can find her at a local Boston theatre, in the garden, or attempting a new Southern style recipe!  

MACDC hosted a free webinar for homeowners on how to identify and address lead paint in their homes or rental units they own on Thursday May 1st. The webinar featured speakers from the MA Department of Public Health, local rehabilitation agencies, lenders, and others. The need for this webinar came out of our Community Engagement work in Gateway Cities as part of our Housing Quality and Health Equity Initiative. You can check out the recording of the webinar here. Please feel free to share with your networks! 

Division of Banks Awards More Than $3.5 Million for CDCs and Other Nonprofit Agencies Counseling Homebuyers and Homeowners 

On May 29, 2025, the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s Division of Banks (DOB) awarded more than $3.5 million in grants to 24 nonprofit organizations to fund first-time homeownership education programs and foreclosure prevention counseling centers throughout Massachusetts. These awards- the highest annual awards in the program’s history- were made under the “Chapter 206 Grant Program”- named after the Chapter in the groundbreaking 2007 law enacted in response to the nation’s financial and foreclosure crises.  Despite the current fiscal challenges faced by the Commonwealth, this year’s Chapter 206 awards by the DOB affirmed the importance of these proven counseling agencies which assist homeowners who are experiencing financial hardship and prospective homebuyers who are determining if homeownership is right for them. 

As in prior years, MACDC Members led the way, with 16 collectively receiving more than $2.6 million, three quarters of funding awarded, including awards to the following organizations: 

ACT Lawrence 

Allston Brighton CDC 

Asian CDC 

Codman Square NDC 

Community Development Partnership 

Franklin County Regional Housing and Redevelopment Authority 

Lawrence Community Works 

Neighborhood of Affordable Housing 

NeighborWorks Housing Solutions 

NewVue Communities 

Somerville Community Corporation 

South Middlesex Opportunity Council 

Southeast Asian Coalition of Central MA 

Urban Edge 

Way Finders 

Valley Community Development 

We are grateful to the DOB for its able stewardship and championing of the Chapter 206 Program, and to the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the MA Legislature for their support for the Program. 

From the MACDC GOALs Survey, we know that CDCs provided homebuyer counseling to almost 5,700 households in 2024, and foreclosure prevention counseling to more than 600 households. It’s a powerful combination: sound public investment coupled with a high-capacity nonprofit program delivery system. Since the inception of the Chapter 206 Grant program in 2008, DOB has awarded more than $30 million to organizations that have collectively assisted more than 109,000 consumers. 

MACDC Convenes Forum on Acquisition Strategies, Launches Broader Initiative