Community Wealth City:
Boston, Massachusetts

As the largest city in New England, and one of its oldest, Boston has long been the region’s economic and cultural hub. According to the 2007 American Community Survey, the city’s population is 50% white, 25% African American, 16% Hispanic, and 9% Asian. People of Irish and Italian ancestry comprise about one quarter of the city (16% and 8% respectively), while people of West Indian ancestry are the third largest group with 6.4% of the city’s population. Among the nation’s 50 most populated cities, Boston ranks fifth in the percentage of adults identifying themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual (12.3%).

Boston, with an estimated 2007 population of 610,000, remains one of the twenty-five largest cities in the country. While lower than its peak population of 800,000 in 1950, Boston has been steadily growing since 1980. The Greater Boston region is also home to nearly 4.5 million people – the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country.

Boston has had a history of being home to many firsts, including the United States’ first college – Harvard College (1636) - and the first subway system. In 2007, Mayor Menino made Boston the first major city in the nation to require development projects to meet the LEED Silver Standard. As a result, the Department of Neighborhood Development has adopted new design standards that will require projects to adopt the Energy Star Standard in addition to LEED Silver, reducing maintenance costs and promoting sustainability in all new affordable housing construction.

Boston is also home to many community partnerships: one such joint venture is the Fairmount Line Collaborative. Bringing together the Mattapan CDC, Dorchester Bay EDC, Codman Square NDC and the Southwest Boston CDC, the Fairmount Line Collaborative is dedicated to advocating for transit equity and to develop a collective development strategy for land adjacent to the current Fairmount/Indigo MBTA line. The Collaborative has been successful in getting the State to appropriate $14 million to modernize the two stops – Morton Street Station and the Cummings Highway station – in the Mattapan neighborhood.

Partners for Jackson is another collaboration of community development corporations, non-profit groups and private developers, including Urban Edge CDC and Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, committed to creating a community-driven redevelopment plan for Jackson Square. Designated master developer by the Boston Redevelopment Authority Director Mark Malone, Partners for Jackson is utilizing Jackson Square’s strategic placement to the Jackson Square MBTA station to create an 11.5-acre mixed-income, mixed-use, transit-oriented development community. Helping reconnect the Jamaica Plain and Roxbury neighborhoods, the plan includes 420 new homes (60% affordable), a new youth and family center, small and mid-scale retail space, and a new plaza and other pedestrian-friendly improvements

An overview of community wealth building efforts follows:

Community Development Corporations

Asian Community Development Corporation
www.asiancdc.org
Established in 1988, the Asian Community Development Corporation was formed to address the lack of affordable housing options for Asian immigrants and other low-income families. With a focus on preserving and revitalizing Boston’s Chinatown community, the group has developed more than 500 affordable housing units, developed a home ownership program that has helped double the rate of ownership in Chinatown and created a youth development program for low-income youth from Boston and urban Asian American (AA) communities in the metropolitan area. The CDC has also started an Energy Efficient Program in partnership with Citizens Programs Corporation and CITGO-Venezuela that is estimated to save residents $14.9 million and cut their energy use by 165 million kilowatt-hours over the life of the program.

Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation
www.dbedc.com
Founded in 1979 by local civic groups, Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation works to create economic development opportunities and construct affordable housing options for the diverse community in Boston and Dorchester neighborhoods. To date, the group has developed more than 930 units of affordable housing, including two housing cooperatives, and created six commercial buildings to anchor businesses that have provided more than 300 jobs. Its Small Business Program has directly lent more than $650,000, created and retained 488 jobs, and packaged over $2.5 million for larger deals to other lenders and banks.

Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción
www.iba-etc.org
Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción works to enhance the quality of life for the majority low-income Latino residents of Villa Victoria – a 435-unit affordable housing community of 1100 residents in South Boston. It also continues to promote the values of Villa Victoria – a community’s whose colorful evolution occurred during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s after it developed a strategy that incorporated quality housing, social services, economic development, and the arts. To date, the group has developed and preserved more than 200 affordable housing units and has helped create the only gallery in New England exclusively dedicated to promoting local, national, and international Latino artists.

Mattapan Community Development Corporation
www.mattapancdc.org
Established in 1996, Mattapan Community Development Corporation (MCDC) is dedicated to improving the social and economic conditions of those who live in Mattapan. The CDC has recently undertaken an ambitious new plan to revitalized the neighborhood, beginning with the Morton Street Homes project – a new 4-story mix-use building within walking distance of the new Morton Street rail stop and featuring permanently affordable housing units. To date, it manages 24 affordable housing units.

Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH)
www.noahcdc.org
Serving East Boston since 1987, the Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH) started as a two-person organization operating from the basement of a church and has evolved into a multi-service non-profit still focused on preserving affordable housing and building safe and healthy neighborhoods. To date, NOAH owns and rents 103 affordable units across 17 properties, has assisted over 650 families in purchasing their first home, and has helped redeveloped six school yards, a four and a half acre waterfront “Urban Wild” park, and a youth-run community garden.

Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation
www.nuestracdc.org
Founded in 1981 by residents of the Dudley Neighborhood, Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation works to build the wealth and enhance the physical, economic and social well-being of Roxbury and other underserved populations in greater Boston by developing affordable housing, increasing local economic development, encouraging individual asset-building, and improving housing security and stability. To date, Nuestra Comunidad has produced 887 units of affordable housing.

Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation
www.swbcdc.org
Formed in 2001 by concerned residents, Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation serves the communities of Hyde Park and Roslindale by preserving affordable housing and promoting economic development. In Hyde Park, it has focused on transit-oriented development, targeting vacant and underutilized lots near the Fairmount/Indigo MBTA line. Another CDC initiative includes the Hyde Park Arts Initiative, a partnership of local arts organizations, businesses and nonprofit groups aimed at utilizing the arts for community economic growth.

Community Development Financial Institutions

Boston Community Capital
www.bostoncommunitycapital.org
Founded in 1985, Boston Community Capital’s community development loan fund has lent out over $200 million, financed 8,500 units of affordable housing, and helped create or maintain over 1,300 jobs that provide a living wage to an underserved population. Through its venture capital fund, the CDFI also invests directly in companies that provide social as well as economic returns. To date, Boston Community Capital has over $93 million in assets under management.

Housing Partnership Network
www.housingpartnership.net
Formed in 1990, the Housing Partnership Network is a business alliance of the nation’s top performing nonprofit development organizations, allowing them to share the innovations from each organization’s local practices and leverage their resources more efficiently. One of its enterprises - the Housing Partnership Fund - is a $30 million CDFI-certified lending institution that has provided financing to thirty Network members to build or acquire more than 11,000 affordable homes valued at more than $850 million. Another enterprise is the Housing Partnership Insurance– the first captive insurance company owned by and operated for nonprofit affordable housing organizations. The insurance company pools risk, saving members more than $1 million a year in premiums, while providing liability coverage for 40,000 affordable apartments developed and managed by the Network’s members.

Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation
www.mhic.com
Founded in 1990 by a consortium of banks and other corporate investors, Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation is non-profit, certified-CDFI that manages a loan program, equity investment program, and a New Markets Tax Credit program. Raising $718 million from investors to fund these programs, MHIC has provided $443 million through its loan program, $524 million through its equity investment program, and $257 million through its New Markets Tax Credit program to needing community businesses. To date, the CDFI has had zero loan losses over its 13-year history, has been self-sustaining since its outset, and has had 53-perccent of the total development costs for projects go to minority-owned businesses.

Community Land Trusts

Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative
www.dsni.org
Founded in 1984 in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, by 1988 Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative had succeeded in getting the city to grant it eminent domain power so the group could acquire vacant land through a community land trust to implement its community revitalization plan. To date, 144 new homes and two community facilities have been built on land held by the trust.

Cooperatives

College Street Gallery
http://collegestreetgallery.tripod.com/collegestreet.htm
Originally founded in 1997 by freelance photographer Michael Mulley, College Street Gallery became a co-op in November 2008. Providing local artists greater freedom in showcasing their work, this small art gallery has displayed more photography than any other art form but has come to include more painting and sculptures in recent years.

Energy Cooperative of New York
www.ecny.org
The Energy Cooperative of New York (CNY) is a not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative, established in 1997. Providing electricity and natural gas to every corner of New York State, CNY has over 2,000 members including over 9,000 service accounts around the state. CNY also provides a 100% renewable energy option to its customers, allowing them to receive energy that is 44% hydro, 29% biomass, and 27% wind power.

Lexington Real Foods Cooperative
http://lexington.coop
Formed in 1971 by members who wanted better access to whole foods at more reasonable prices, Lexington Real Foods Cooperative is a consumer co-operative with a full time paid staff. With more than 4,000 members, the Co-op is democratically operated, electing a Board of Directors annually.

Nickel City Housing Cooperative
www.nickelcitycoop.org
Founded in 2000, the Nickel City Housing Cooperative consists of two member-owned houses. Each house has about thirteen members, who make decisions about food and chores by consensus and give back to the local community by purchasing locally grown food. Each week NCHC holds a potluck that is open to anyone to attend, providing of course that you bring some kind of dish.

Upstate-Niagara Cooperative, Inc.
www.upstatefarmscoop.com
Upstate Niagara is a full-service, member-owned dairy cooperative located in Western New York. In 2006, Upstate Farms Cooperative, founded in 1965, and Niagara Milk Cooperative, founded in 1931, consolidated to form Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Inc. Owned and operated by approximately 420 dairy farmers and employing more than 1,000 people, the Co-op's 2006 revenues exceeded $500 million.

Urban Roots Garden Cooperative
www.urbanroots.org
Founded in 2005, Urban Roots is a member-owned cooperative garden center on Buffalo's West Side; its goal to revitalize Buffalo through beautification efforts and urban renewal. Owned by approximately 400 individuals, Urban Roots originally grew out of planning and revitalization efforts of the West Side Community Collaborative.

Cross Sectoral

Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE)
www.saje.net
Founded in 1996, SAJE has taken a multi-faceted approach to pursuing community wealth building, combining a strong advocacy and community organizing focus with innovative redevelopment strategies, including negotiating community benefits agreements (in which developers agree to provide jobs for local residents in exchange for community support), affordable housing development, and immigrant access to the banking system.

Employee Ownership

Osmose
www.osmose.com
Osmose is a majority employee-owned private corporation specializing in all areas of wood preservation technology as well as Utility and Railroad asset management. With more than 1200 employees, Osmose maintains a network of supplies and customer throughout the United States and in more than 70 countries around the world.

Green Collar Jobs

Buffalo's Green Gold Development Corporation
http://greengold.org
Incorporating a diverse Board of Directors including local environmental business leaders, environmentalists, and City Council President James W. Pitts, the Green Gold Development Corporation strives to create sustainable development, meaningful jobs, a better environment and a prosperous local economy. Established to help implement Buffalo's "Green Gold Strategy" – a strategy that seeks to transform Buffalo into a international center for companies whose products and services solve environmental problems - to date, GGDC lists 45 businesses considered Green Gold Companies.

Buffalo Re-Use
www.buffaloreuse.org
Demolishing buildings in an environmentally friendly, community oriented manner known as deconstruction, Buffalo Re-Use seeks to reduce the total amount of material that heads to the landfill and generate a source of reusable materials available to the community. Buffalo ReUse uses the sales of the building materials to train and employ young men and women, ages 18 – 24.

State and Local Investment

Buffalo Urban Development Corporation (BUDC)
http://budc.ecidany.com
Focusing on urban and high impact project development in Erie County Buffalo Urban Development Corporation (BUDC), a not-for-profit local development corporation chaired by the mayor, has had notable success with the development of Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park. This 200+ acre Smart Growth" urban commerce park, one of the largest (in acreage) brownfield reclamation projects in New York, includes LEED-certified buildings, preservation of over 23 acres of freshwater wetlands, and 20 acres of public green space.

Erie County Industrial Development Agency (ECIDA)
www.ecidany.com
The Niagara Region Ventures Fund, a component of ECIDA Financing Group, helps capitalize private investment that expands or retains employment in Erie County, New York. Prioritizing technology-based companies, the Fund considers funding for start-up, early stage and expansion stage companies that offer above average opportunities for economic growth and that will contribute to the long-term growth in the regional employment base. To date, the Fund has helped finance 28 local entrepreneurs with more than $6.5 million.

Social Enterprises

Massachusetts Avenue Project
www.mass-ave.org
The Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) has two core projects — Growing Green, a youth development and urban agriculture program and Food Ventures, a food-based micro-enterprise development program. The Growing Green programs helps low-income, at-risk youth in Buffalo develop life-skills and provide meaningful work on MAP's urban farm. In 2006, Growing Green Works, a youth enterprise run by urban youth on the west side of Buffalo, was founded to sell the organic local made food products to help offset the cost of employment and training of youth year around.

University-Community Partnerships

Buffalo State University and West Side Community Collaborative
www.buffalostate.edu/offices/cdc/vslc/cnscgrant.html
Buffalo State University is using its resources and the West Side Community Collaborative established community infrastructure to help improve local communities and build stronger relationships by integrating service-learning into the Buffalo State curriculum. The University has identified seven specific projects that would best utilize its resources, including assisting in micro-enterprise support and developing a Community Cultural Center.

Daemen College, Center for Sustainable Communities and Civic Engagement
www.daemen.edu/academics/centersinitiatives/CSCCE/Pages/default.aspx
Claiming the title of the only center for urban sustainability in the United States, the Center for Sustainable Communities and Civic Engagement partners students from Daemen College with community-based organizations, businesses and government entities that have the primary goal of developing active, livable neighborhoods in the City of Buffalo. Instilling students with skills that they can take from community-to-community, the Center places students into many different positions, such as teaching children study skills for success in school, teaching techniques for securing government services or assisting in the management of community organizations.

University of Buffalo, Community Linked Interdisciplinary Research Program
www.clir.buffalo.edu
The mission of the University of Buffalo's Community Linked Interdisciplinary Research Program is to offer undergraduates an opportunity to conduct community research, drawing from the needs of the Western New York community and the expertise of faculty at the University of Buffalo. Courses and research can range from "Slavery and the Underground Railroad" to "Analytical Chemistry of Pollutants" to "Neighborhood Research."