C-W.org Interviews with Community Builders

John Logue, Founder and Executive Director of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University

C-W.org Interviews Archive

Eric Weaver, Founder and Executive Director of Lenders for Community Development,
San Jose, California
Executive Director of Lenders for Community Development (soon to be Opportunity Fund), a community development financial institution based in San Jose, California. Since its formation in 1993, Lenders for Community Development has disbursed over $5.6 million to more than 2,300 savers through its individual development account (IDA) program, the nation’s largest. The group has also made over 600 loans worth over $8 million to support local microenterprise and has directed over $115 million in community investment into affordable housing and community facilities.
interview-weaver.pdf (180KB)

Maggie DeSantis, President, Warren-Conner Development Corporation, Detroit, MI
The Warren-Conner Development Corporation is a community-based organization that has been working for more than two decades on Detroit’s Eastside. Founded in 1984, Warren-Conner has undertaken a number of initiatives, including youth development, community organizing, business development, and affordable housing. Over the past two decades, the group’s work has helped create 200 jobs and generate nearly $20 million in private investment.
interview-desantis.pdf (148KB)

Tony Brown, President/CEO, Uptown Consortium, Cincinnati, OH
Founded in 2003 as an alliance of the University of Cincinnati, three nonprofit health care organizations, and the city zoo, the Uptown Consortium has employed a mixed-use (commercial, retail, and residential) approach to community development in the Uptown neighborhoods where the anchors are located. To date, the University of Cincinnati alone has allocated $100 million from its $1 billion endowment to support the effort, helping leverage over $400 million for community revitalization work.
interview-brown.pdf (164KB)

Seema Agnani, Executive Director of New York City’s Chhaya CDC
Seema Agnani is founder and Executive Director of Chhaya Community Development Corporation, based in the Queens borough of New York City. Founded in 2000 to serve New York City’s rapidly growing South Asian community, high land prices have forced Chhaya to innovate in its affordable housing strategy. Rather than developing new housing, the CDC has worked with City officials, architects, and homeowners to improve and legalize New York City’s growing market (which now numbers over 100,000 units citywide) of “in-law” or “informal” housing. C-W.org interviews Agnani to get her perspective on current issues facing CDCs and the South Asian community, both in New York City and nationally.
interview-agnani.pdf (104KB)

Rosalind Greenstein on Community Land Trusts
Rosalind Greenstein is Senior Fellow and Chair of the Department of Economic and Community Development at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, based in Cambridge, MA. Founded in 1974, Lincoln focuses its educational work on land policy and land-related taxation. Through its Community Lots initiative (www.communitylots.org) Lincoln provides technical assistance to a number of community groups—including the growing community land trust (CLT) movement. C-W.org interviews Greenstein to learn her perspective on current issues facing community land trusts, as well as the movement’s future prospects.
interview-greenstein.pdf (112KB)

Ron Phillips on Community Wealth Building Trends