MACDC and our members have secured 47 sponsors for our signature bill The Community Development Partnership Act (SD831/HD1891).  The bill will support community led economic development initiatives through a strategic market-based approach that is sustainable because it depends on private contributions and builds strong local partnerships.  Led by our sponsors, Chairwoman Linda Dorcena Forry and Senator Sal DiDominico, we have an additional 45 legislators (11 Senators and 34 Representatives) co-sponsoring our bill.  Over the past two weeks, CDCs from throughout the Commonwealth called, emailed and met with their legislators to explain the importance of creating a program to help them leverage donations from corporations and individuals. 

MACDC will continue to work with our members and their legislators as the bill progresses through the legislative process.   For more information aboutThe Community Development Partnership Act, please read the bill summary.  For information about MACDC's other Policy Priorities, visit our website or contact Allison Staton.

CDCs host Donuts with Your Delegation 2011

On yet another snowy morning in late January, Franklin County CDC in Greenfield hosted four members of their state legislative delegation to update them on the CDC's activities and discuss key community development policy issues.  They started out eating breakfast in their office and continued with a tour of their Western Mass Food Processing Center (pictured on the right), which promotes economic development through entrepreneurship, provides opportunities for sustaining local agriculture and promotes best practices for food producers.

Franklin County CDC was one of several CDCs to host their legislators for breakfast (or another meal) over the past few weeks.  For the last several weeks CDCs from the North Shore, Central MA and in Boston have hosted State Representatives, Senators and their aides as part of MACDC's Fourth Annual Donuts with your Delegation to talk about the new year and how they can work together to address the needs of their communities, including supporting

February 22-25, 2011; 9:00am-5:00pm

United Church Conference Center, 1 Badger Road, Framingham, MA 01702

Instructor: Judy Weber (Viva Consulting)

The NHMS course is an intensive, four-day survey course that helps participants transition from the "How to" to the "How well are we doing what we are doing?" of real estate asset management.  It introduces the functions, requirements and systems of good asset management.  This is the second module in a six-course series that will award successful participants with the Certified Housing Asset Manager (CHAM®) Designation from the Consortium for Housing and Asset Management.

Additional Information and Registration

  

In January, twenty key stakeholders participated in an interactive strategic planning session for The Alliance: Advancing Community Development by Confronting Racism.  Over the past few years the Alliance has hosted learning initiatives and open dialogues, created a diversity compact, published a Recruitment and Retention Manual, and administered the Community Development Mentoring Program.

In 2010, The Alliance conducted a program evaluation as a way to capture the strengths and future opportunities of the coalition.  The process resulted in a series of recommendations which were presented during the Strategy meeting.

The energetic and thoughtful discussions included networking, small group work, and brainstorming strategies for strengthening key Alliance programs including the Mentoring program, the Recruiting and Retaining of People of Color and the Quarterly Dialogues. The session concluded with participants volunteering in the program areas above as well as creating a two year action plan.

For more information on the Alliance and how you can participate, please contact Shirronda Almeida and to order the Alliance Recruitment and Retention Manual click here.

The MACDC Board of Directors voted last month to join the advocacy coalition Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA) as part of our growing effort to link our membership to broader economic and environmental efforts that will benefit our communities.  T4MA is a diverse network of organizations drawn from community development, environment, public health, smart growth, transportation, business, and public sectors.  The goal is to double, by 2020, the percentage of Massachusetts residents who live in diverse, vibrant, and walkable communities served by a sustainable and sustainably funded public transportation system that connects them to major employment centers and educational opportunities.

Community Developers in Massachusetts have been active on transportation issues for many years - starting with the successful campaign in the 1970's to stop the I-95 Highway from destroying Boston neighborhoods, to the subsequent effort over these four decades to rebuild the Southwest Corridor with transit, bike paths, parks, housing, educational institutions and other development projects. More recently, several MACDC members are undertaking major Transit Oriented Development projects and advocating for improved transit services. While this is particularly true in Greater Boston, CDCs outside of the MBTA service area are also getting involved in efforts to improve public transit for their communities. One of MACDC's key goals in joining T4MA is to connect our members throughout the state to both local and statewide transit advocacy efforts. We will be placing a significant emphasis on Gateway Cities which have large transit dependant populations but vastly under-funded transit systems. 

MACDC provides a calendar on our website for members and supporting organizationsto publicize their events including Annual Meetings, Ribbon Cuttings and fundraisers.  Each month we highlight one of our members' event.  This month the highlighted event is:

MACDC provides job postings on our website for members and supporting organizations to publicize employment opportunities.  This month's highlighted positions are:

• Civic Engagement Coordinator, Madison Park Development Corporation
• Lead Organizer, Nuestra CDC