community development Archives - Community Engagement Learning ExchangeCommunity Engagement Learning Exchange

Vending Machines or Barn Raising: The Role of Local Government in Community Building

This entry was contributed by Rick Morse, on October 10th, 2017 at 9:32 am and is filed under Capacity Building, Community Partnerships, Elected Officials.

I recently was asked to speak to a joint meeting of town councils of four communities in Eastern North Carolina. The subject they asked me to speak about was community engagement. What I ended up spending most of my time talking about were two frames for thinking about the role of local government in the overall process of community building. The two frames are local government as vending machine and local government as barn raising. In 1996, Frank Benest, former city manager of Palo Alto, California, wrote an article in ICMA’s Public Management (PM) magazine asking whether local government was serving customers or engaging citizens. He used the metaphor of the vending machine (which he attributed to another city manager, Rick Cole) to describe the common way local government’s are thought of.

Housing Matters: School and Family Stability and Greensboro’s Housing Our Community Initiative

This entry was contributed by Beth McKee-Huger, on June 7th, 2017 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Civic Education, Community Partnerships, Housing, Outreach Methods, Social Justice.

Safe affordable housing is complicated.

Building new or rehabilitating deteriorating housing requires putting together complex and expensive deals. The people with the money and power to accomplish this, therefore, make the decisions about what gets built and where. This may or may not match with what works best for the people who will live there or for the community as a whole.

Most of us don’t get the opportunity to make the development decisions but we do pay for the shortage of good places to live. Many pay with the quality—or even the length—of our lives. Even if we have adequate housing ourselves, we all absorb the costs of health care, schools, public safety, and social services when people have to choose between dangerous places or moving from homes they can’t afford. Some are displaced by gentrification when whole streets are transformed from high-risk to high-cost; others live in neighborhoods that just continue to export dollars, as rent payments out (to landlords out of state or across town) exceed investment coming in.

Fellow CELE bloggers describe the complexities of raising our voices, as neighborhood residents and community advocates, about the impact of housing decisions. (See blogs tagged Affordable Housing)

BUT… However difficult it is to speak up, we must do so. Here is what is at stake for us and our communities:

Where Affordable Housing Meets Community Engagement

This entry was contributed by Kevin Amirehsani, on May 5th, 2017 at 9:00 am and is filed under Accessibility, Community Partnerships, Dialogue & Deliberation, Elected Officials, Housing, Public Meetings.

For those outside Colorado, it may come as some surprise that one of the state’s hardest-fought legislative battles of the past few years – one that should finally conclude this week – involves incentives for condominium construction. As unsexy as “construction defects reform” sounds, it is emblematic of how much of a hot-button issue affordable housing is across The Centennial State. This is especially true along the Front Range, which is home to seven of the nation’s 12 counties where affordable housing is at its lowest-ever level.

A City Can Build Streets, But it Takes Residents to Build a Community

This entry was contributed by Sabrina Colón, on October 20th, 2016 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Civic Education, Dialogue & Deliberation, Diversity, Uncategorized.

Charlotte’s West End is among the oldest and most culturally rich areas of the city. With neighborhoods dating back to the late 1800’s, this area has served as a hub for the African-American community for generations. From long standing community service organizations to educational institutions such as Johnson C. Smith University to more than 330 acres of greenspace, there is a strong community built on Charlotte’s west side and many people invested in its future.

When Progress is at Odds!

This entry was contributed by Stephen Hopkins, on September 26th, 2016 at 9:00 am and is filed under Dialogue & Deliberation, Diversity, Social Justice.

I am a sixty years old black man who has been fighting for social justice and fairness for low- income communities here in Durham North Carolina for the last 27 years. I have seen a lot of changes come into our communities that at the time I felt good about, housing has been improved, we have more and better parks and playgrounds, downtown Durham has come back to life and there are more things to do, access to main highways are being improve and a lot of different jobs are coming into the area. The problem I see now is that with all of these good things happening in Durham, not many poor blacks are benefiting, in fact we are being forced out of our neighborhoods, are young blacks men and women aren’t getting the good paying jobs and the black owned businesses are dying out. Try as I can, I don’t know how to turn this around or where to start, Any ideals?

Fayetteville moves to renovate parks and recreation centers: But is it enough to attract new business?

This entry was contributed by Michelle Bir, on March 9th, 2016 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Community Partnerships, Innovation.

On March 15th the city of Fayetteville votes on the Parks and Recreation Bond Referendum. The referendum is for a 35 million dollar bond and intended to improve the city’s infrastructure by renovating recreation facilities across the city. Continue Reading

Civic Engagement for Non-College Youth

This entry was contributed by Katy Harriger, on February 19th, 2016 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Civic Education, Community Partnerships, Dialogue & Deliberation, Elected Officials, Innovation.

The presidential primary season has drawn considerable attention to the issue of young voters and what appears to be their overwhelming support for Bernie Sanders. On my campus students are engaging in debate watch parties, are organizing voter registration drives, and a small group of around twenty students, both Republican and Democratic, are having the experience of a lifetime in a program called Wake the Vote, which has taken them already to Iowa and New Hampshire and later in the year will give them the opportunity to attend the conventions. These kinds of experiences translate into participation at the polls. An organization that studies the political participation of young people (CIRCLE) reports that 70% of the youth votes (18-24) cast were cast by young people with at least some college experience. Clearly, activities that provide students with the opportunity to get engaged in the political process are powerful motivators for voting.

Engaged neighborhoods can attract business – A Richmond, VA Success

This entry was contributed by Candice Streett, on November 20th, 2015 at 2:51 pm and is filed under Advisory Committees, Capacity Building, Community Partnerships, Online Participation, Outreach Methods.

In the summer of 2014, San Diego-based Stone Brewing Company sought to find a site to open an east coast production and distribution facility. Stone targeted a few cities in Virginia, Richmond being one, as possible locations.

The City of Richmond Economic Development Office, city officials, local politicians and many others worked to lure Stone Brewing to one of the two Richmond locations in which the company had shown an interest.

But it was neighborhood residents who caught the attention of Stone’s team, and who ultimately impacted the company’s decision.

The Durham Innovation Council

This entry was contributed by Stephen Hopkins, on September 23rd, 2015 at 8:42 am and is filed under Community Partnerships, Innovation.

I am involved with a new group forming called The Durham Innovation Council. It’s a national movement to help small businesses and people of color who want to start new businesses ,or have innovative ideals for new businesses, get support and access to services that they have had problem getting. What is different about what we are proposing to do from what other business support groups are doing is that we are a four city collaboration that shares best practices and ideals that are proven to work in poor and low income communities in the four partnering cities. We also help bring capital and mentorship to the table. The four cities are Durham, Detroit, Cleveland and New Orleans. Continue Reading