RESEARCH IN ACTION

The Community Development Innovation Forum, a project of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations and Greater Boston Local Initiative Support Corporation released a new study by the Nonprofit Finance Fund that looked at the fiscal health of the CDC sector in Massachusetts.

The CDC Fiscal Health Study revealed that the 26 organizations represented in the study became more financially vulnerable from 2003 through 2008. This result indicates that the financial challenges facing community development corporations predate the 2008 recession.

The study also found that, unlike private real estate companies, CDC financial performance was not demonstrably better during the hot real estate market in the middle of the decade because program limits on rents and profits left  little cushion when the market collapsed in 2008.

Author: Bill Pinakiewicz

Contact:  Joe Kriesberg: joeK@macdc.org

Date: February, 2010

To read the report, click here.

Featuring MACDC a grantee of the Herman and Frieda Miller Foundation

GRANTEES IN THE NEWS

Source: Shelterforce Magazine

Shelterforce Magzine describes the potential crisis looming in affordable housing as a large number of mortgages subsidized by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are set to expire in the next few years. Without action by government and tenants, many owners could choose to convert their units to market-rate, which would decrease the already small pool of  affordable housing available. Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants is profiled in the article for its work organizing tenants living in HUD housing.

To read the article, click here.

Featuring Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants, a grantee of the Herman and Frieda L. Miller Foundation.

NEW BOOKS

Large scale infrastructure projects throughout the world typically discourage public input in the development process.  EarthRights International’s field schools in Burma, the Mekong, and the Amazon train citizens to challenge this norm. 

I Want to Eat Fish.  I Cannot Eat Electricity,  features writings from EarthRights Mekong School graduates that take an in-depth look at how citizens are advocating for more equitable development in the Mekong region.

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