MARCH 2012 

Yesterday the first CDCs in Massachusetts were certified under the definition updated in Ch. 40H (included in Chapter 240 of 2010).  The following CDCs successfully completed the process to be certified by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD):

• Urban Edge
• Twin Cities CDC
• Hilltown CDC
• Jamaica Plain NDC 

"CDCs play a central role in the Patrick-Murray Administration's housing and economic development agenda" said DHCD Undersecretary Aaron Gornstein. "The CDC certification program brings a new level of accountability to the field, paving the way for increased investment and impact that will strengthen communities throughout the Commonwealth. Therefore, I want to congratulate the first four CDCs to be certified and encourage others to submit their applications as soon as possible."

Each certification will assist the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) as it develops programs, initiatives or partnerships that support community development throughout the Commonwealth.  

For more information on the CDC certification process, please contact Joe Kriesberg.   

MACDC's Fifth Annual Doughnuts with Your Delegation has now involved over twenty CDCs from throughout Massachusetts eating dim sum, granola, danishes or any other food they chose with members of the Legislature.  Starting in January and continuing into February, MACDC members told their state Representatives and Senators about the important work they are doing in communities, asked what is happening in the State House and talked about how The Community Development Partnership Act (CDPA, H.3707) will advance comprehensive strategies for community improvement and economic development.

Housing Corp. of Arlington posed with their legislative delegation following their meeting.

Also in February, Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry and Senator Sal DiDomenico, chairs of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business, hosted a briefing on CDPA in the State House.  North Shore CDC's Micky Northcutt and MACDC's Joe Kriesberg spoke on the importance of the bill.  

For more information about MACDC's Doughnuts with Your Delegation or the Community Development Partnership Act, please contact Allison Staton.

On February 9, 2012, the Federal Government and Attorneys General from 49 States (all except Oklahoma) reached an agreement with the five largest mortgage servicers for $25 billion in payments to resolve violations of state and federal law and to implement comprehensive new mortgage loan servicing standards. The five servicers are Ally Financial, Inc. (formerly GMAC), Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

The Agreement consists of two primary components: payment of $25 billion by the servicers and agreement by the servicers to implement new mortgage servicing standards. It does not preclude federal and state pursuit of criminal enforcement actions to this or other conduct by servicers or individual actions by borrowers.

The National Mortgage Settlement will bring an estimated $318 million in assistance to Massachusetts borrowers, including $224 million to Massachusetts borrowers in benefits from loan modifications and other direct relief; $32.7 million in refinanced loans to Massachusetts underwater borrowers; $14.7 million to Massachusetts borrowers who lost their home to foreclosure during the specified period and suffered from servicing abuse; and $46.5 million to the Commonwealth that will be used to assist homeowners. For more information read MACDC's summary.   

MACDC has already joined with allies to initiate conversations with Attorney General Martha Coakley's office. The focus is on the use of the $46.5 million that the AG's office will, per the terms of the national settlement, go to "fund housing counselors, legal aid, and other similar programs determined by the state attorneys general." MACDC hopes that a significant portion of this funding is utilized for two essential activities: foreclosure prevention and foreclosed property redevelopment.  The most critical recommendation is that the Attorney General use the existing network of certified nonprofit foreclosure prevention counselors to provide the foreclosure prevention assistance.

With regard to redevelopment, MACDC is working with our allies in the public and nonprofit sectors to ensure that a portion of the settlement could be used to replace the already spent federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funding.

Palestinian and Israeli activists talking in Yafo, Israel. Photo taken 2010 by MACDC's Joe Kriesberg.

A delegation of housing leaders from Greater Boston will be traveling to Israel later in March to share ideas and lessons with colleagues in that country. The week-long trip is being sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council and Combined Jewish Philanthropy and will include visits with government officials, academics, developers and advocates representing both the Jewish and Palestinian population in Israel. The delegation will travel to Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. MACDC President Joseph Kriesberg is co-chairing the trip along with Larry Curtis and Gilbert Winn; more than 20 Boston area leaders will be joining them including three MACDC members: Chrystal Kornegay from Urban Edge, Rob Corley from NHS of the South Shore and Chris Norris from MBHP.

"Israel faces many of the same housing challenges that we do in Boston and the United States - and some we don't, so it should be a fascinating and worthwhile trip," commented Kriesberg, who met with several housing advocates in Israel during a prior trip in 2010 where the above photo was taken. "I'm sure we will learn things that will be helpful to us when we return and hopefully we can offer our colleagues in Israel some useful lessons from our experiences here."

For more information about the trip, please contact Joe Kriesberg. 

The Alliance launches 4th Mentoring Program

The Alliance - Advancing Community Development by Confronting Racism is pleased to announce the launch of the fourth cycle of the Community Development Mentoring program.  The Alliance is a coalition of community development organizations and practitioners dedicated to increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of leadership of the community development field by addressing racism. 

The Mentoring Program started in 2005 and has had over 40 community development professionals participate in the first three cycles.  The mentoring program pairs professionals of color with senior level managers for nine months. The pairs are introduced at the orientation where they create goals for the relationship. They meet monthly and come together for ongoing learning sessions on topics such as professional networking. This year's program has over 20 participants from a variety of organizations including CEDAC, Allston Brighton CDC, IBA, Asian CDC, NHS of South Shore, MHP and Mass Housing.  For more information about The Alliance or the Mentoring Program, contact Shirronda Almeida. 

NACEDA Summit in Washington, DC May 21-23

Mission 180: Bringing Together Over 100 Roxbury Residents  

In late February, over 100 residents of Roxbury, a neighborhood of Boston, came together to learn more about what their friends and neighbors think about their community as part of Mission 180.  This project is a collaborative community organizing process that connects residents and leaders to define the future of their neighborhood. The resident -led process leads to a community contract that identifies strengths and challenges, and outlines solutions.

Mission 180 is part of the Resilient Communities Resilient Families Initiative funded by Boston LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation).  The staff and leaders of Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation and seven other partner organizations had 114 one-on-one conversations with community residents.  They asked people to talk about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats they saw in their community. 

At the meeting, the partners presented a summary of those conversations and heard people's reactions, further insights and ideas for next steps.  In small groups people discussed a number of topics including how to keep long-time Roxbury residents and businesses in the neighborhood, how to bolster economic development and how to tap into the cultural and historical strengths of Roxbury.

MACDC's Blog asks: Can We Build our Way Out of Crime?  

MACDC Urges HUD to Keep HOME Program Strong

MACDC joined two efforts to submit comments to HUD on its proposals to make significant changes in the HOME Program. While HUD's stated intent is to make improvements in program performance and accountability, several of the proposed changes would negatively impact communities that rely on the HOME Program. 

MACDC worked closely with fellow CDC associations around the country to develop comments on the proposed rules that were submitted by the National Association of Community Economic Development Associations (NACEDA).  Closer to home, MACDC helped craft comments on behalf of several Massachusetts housing organizations that were organized by Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA).

MACDC is most concerned about the proposed revised definition of Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs) that limits eligibility to those with paid staff with development experience. As stated in the Massachusetts letter:

"CHDOs play a major role in affordable housing development in Massachusetts, including many with thin financing and few staff members. Many rely on experienced board members or other volunteers, or engage an experienced consultant to train key staff and build their overall capacity. The proposed change would discourage collaboration and joint venture partnerships, increase CHDO operating costs among dwindling resources, severely hamper the formation of emerging CHDOs, and unnecessarily drive up total costs on projects that historically are developed with little/no profit. We support HUD's desire to increase CHDO capacity but recommend revising the definition to include CHDOs that are on a path to developing staff capacity."

The rule changes come in the context of dramatic cuts to the HOME program over the past two years from $2 billion in FY 2011 to$1 billion in FY 2012. MACDC will continue to work with allies in Massachusetts and nationally to restore full funding to this vital and successful program.   

For more information about HUD's HOME Program, please contact Don Bianchi. 

Innovation in Asset Management: New Efforts to Strengthen Properties, Community and Non Profit Housing Organizations

Date: April 5, 2012

Time: 9:30am-11:30am

Location: MassHousing, Boardroom, One Beacon Street, Boston

One of the major findings of the Innovation Forum in 2009 was the importance of enabling nonprofit housing organizations to earn more revenue from their existing portfolios so that their financial health would be less dependent on increasingly irregular and unreliable developer fees. Since that time a number of organizations have launched programs to move the field in this direction, including initiatives related to financial management, energy efficiency, professional development, collaboration, and policy reform. This Innovation Forum event will highlight some of these exciting developments and provide a forum to discuss how we can further advance and expand them. 

Registration information can be found here. 

CHAM: Nuts & Bolts of Asset Management

MACDC's Calendar - promote your event

MACDC provides a calendar on our website for members and supporting organizations to publicize their events including Annual Meetings, Ribbon Cuttings and fundraisers.  Several upcoming member events are:

MACDC members, please tell us about your events by sending an email to Rosa Nin.

MACDC's Job Postings