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Overview
and Goals
The Green CDCs Initiative
(the Initiative) is a first-of-its-kind collaborative model for improving
urban environmental conditions and expanding environmental constituencies
through sustainable approaches to community development. Such "green"
techniques offer the promise of not only better development projects
- projects that last longer and are cheaper to operate and maintain,
are more aesthetically pleasing, and generate greater public support
- but also better environmental results such as clean air and water,
restored wetlands and greenspace, and less traffic and noise for urban
communities.
In collaboration with the Tellus
Institute, a leading non-profit environmental research and consulting
organization, Massachusetts
Association of CDCs (MACDC), a trade association of over 65 non-profit,
community-based organizations that seek to revitalize low and moderate
income communities across the state, the Local
Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the nation's largest community
building organization and a leading affordable housing pre-development
funder, New Ecology launched the Initiative to engage and support Massachusetts
CDCs in green development planning and implementation. The Initiative
views CDCs as key players in sustainable development because of their
unique development capacity as well as their commitment to social equity,
community economic development, public health, and civic engagement.
This, in addition to the Initiative's environmental protection goals,
creates the theoretical and practical basis for genuine sustainable
development.
Through the Initiative, we are creating a results-driven network of
"green" community development groups and projects to address
the following goals:
- Help CDCs successfully
advance and deliver green projects by providing access to technical
assistance, financial resources, and academic programs;
- Share sustainable
development strategies and successes among CDCs and other stakeholders;
- Establish CDCs
as a bona fide environmental constituency, creating new partnerships
and coalitions and bridging the divide between environmental protection
and community development;
- Assist in developing
new policy and financial tools to help green CDCs;
- Raise public awareness
about the benefits and advantages of sustainable urban development;
and
- Achieve greater
purchasing power for CDCs through consumer aggregation when procuring
green products and services.
A summary brochure
about the GCDCI is available in Adobe PDF format, here.
The following pages present information on the Green CDCs Initiative's
activities and programs under the following headings:
- Services:
Direct services provided by the Initiative.
- Events:
Listing and description of events the Initiative puts on each year.
- Applied
Research Agenda:
Explanation of our current research activities including links to
partners and publications.
- Sample
CDC Projects: Highlights sustainable development projects
that the Initiative has contributed to in Massachusetts.
- Contact
Information: Contact the Green CDCs Initiative
Services
The fields
of environmental protection and community economic development are becoming
more and more intertwined as people see the long-term economic and environmental
value in investing in environmentally sound development in distressed
urban communities. At the same time, these interconnections and complexities
beg for an organization that can provide valuable services to CDCs who
wish to navigate a course to more sustainable development outcomes.
The Green CDCs Initiative aims to be an indispensable resource for CDCs,
allowing them to become as proficient in sustainable practices as they
are currently in affordable housing development, community organizing
and economic development.
Technical Assistance
Technical assistance is a key component of the Initiative, and our staff
have worked directly with a growing number of CDCs to "green"
their projects, including the three examples presented below:
- Assisted Homeowner's
Rehab CDC of Cambridge in developing and implementing a construction
and demolition waste management plan to maximize the recycling and/or
reuse of materials from a 42-unit affordable housing rehabilitation
project;
- Provided technical
assistance to VietAid,
a Boston-based CDC serving the Vietnamese community, concerning protection
of the health of workers in small businesses with high exposure to
toxics (e.g., wood floor refinishing and nail salons);
- Provided technical
assistance to the Dudley
Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) on how to incorporate green
strategies in their 14-unit new construction housing project.
- The Initiative
played a major role in informing CDCs of funding opportunities from
the Massachusetts
Renewable Energy Trust (MRET) for green energy projects. Provided
access for 5 CDCs to over $830,000 in feasibility and design/construction
grants from MRET.
The Initiative is
well accustomed to receiving novel requests for green development services
that fit the needs of the CDC community. If you have a need, we look
forward to working with you, bringing our accumulated expertise and
knowledge of the full spectrum of green development services. Don't
hesitate to contact the Initiative with ideas, questions, or comments
on the kind of technical assistance that you are after.
Clearinghouse
of Sustainable Development Professionals
The Initiative aims to be a "one-stop-shop" for CDCs seeking
green services. The Initiative maintains a clearinghouse of over 90
Technical Assistance Providers with expertise in sustainable development
and green design. This tool allows the Initiative to easily and quickly
access information and TA providers which CDCs need to in order to make
educated and timely decisions concerning green products and services.
We maintain connections with experts in all of the following fields
and are continually updating and seeking to expand this reservoir of
knowledge:
- Law
- Real estate
- Economic development
- Fundraising
- Financial analysis
and accounting
- Architecture and
landscape architecture
- Planning
- Construction and
engineering.
For more information
on the clearinghouse or if you would like to be listed, please contact
Madeline Fraser Cook at New Ecology.
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Events
The Green
CDCs Initiative regularly convenes events that provide excellent opportunities
for learning, networking, sharing information and best practices, and
helping build a critical mass for sustainable development in urban communities.
In addition to our "flagship" event, the Regional Sustainable
Development Forum, the Initiative sponsors workshops and training sessions
covering a range of topics from affordable housing and green design
to sustainable brownfields redevelopment for groups of all sizes and
degrees of expertise.
Register
now for the 6th Annual Regional Sustainable Development Forum October
21, 2005
The most visible and valuable Initiative event is the annual Regional
Sustainable Development Forum, held each fall on the campus of MIT.
This event is well attended by over 250 representatives from community
development corporations, other community-based organizations, local,
state and federal government agencies, foundations, universities, and
planning and development firms, the Forum provides a unique opportunity
for practitioners, policymakers and funders to network and collect information
on sustainable development projects on the ground and most importantly,
learn from each other.
Proceedings from the first four Regional Sustainable Development Forums,
and other Initiative events are available on the Publications,
Proceedings, and Papers section of this website.
Training Workshops
The Initiative provides trainings across New England on green building
basics and assessment of costs and benefits of green buildings. Other
such training sessions aimed at CDCs are likely in the future, seeking
to disseminate green building practices and other elements of sustainable
urban development to the widest possible audience. If you are interested
in having the Initiative give your group a training, please contact
New Ecology.
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Applied
Research Agenda
The cooperating
Initiative partners are able to bring strong academic credentials and
organizational capacity to bear on a variety of research tasks, with
an emphasis on answering questions that are of particular interests
to practitioners of sustainable community development. This research
agenda informs and under girds our work, in addition to offering opportunities
to engage skeptics and allies alike in conversations and assessments
of policy and planning decisions.
Green Affordable
Housing Research
The Initiative and its partner organizations have authored a path-breaking
report on "Costs and Benefits of Green Affordable Housing",
with in-depth case studies of successful green affordable housing projects.
A companion piece, "Innovations in Green Finance" will examine
different approaches for financing the green components of affordable
housing developments. The goal of this research will be to educate about
and support efforts to green affordable housing.
For more information on Version 2 of the study, please click
here.
Click on the following
links for Version 1 of both papers:
Current plans call
for these studies to be broadly disseminated to CDCs and other organizations
interested in green affordable housing around the country. If you are
interested in having New Ecology present findings of its studies at
your event, please contact us.
Healthy Building
Coalition
The Initiative is participating as a member of a Boston coalition of
green- and healthy-building practitioners that is developing strategies
to link the efforts of the green and healthy building movements. The
Initiative is committed to representing the interests of CDCs and relaying
information from ongoing discussions regarding policies and actions
that will impact construction and maintenance of healthy indoor spaces
in Boston.
Green Building
Task Force
The Initiative participated in the Mayor Menino's Boston's
Green Building Task Force.
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Sample CDC Projects
Listed below are three
CDC projects that highlight our approach to sustainable urban development.
Each shows sustainability in practice through a different light. The
CAST project is an affordable housing rehabilitation project, the Urban
Village Plan focuses on sustainable neighborhood planning, and the Healthy
Business Initiative shows how sustainability can be incorporated into
small business practice. These are only a sampling of the innovative
projects Massachusetts CDCs are undertaking.
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Contact
Information
For general information
on the Green CDCs Initiative or specific information on any of the Initiative's
services, events, or research, please feel free to contact us. We welcome
your questions and look forward to working directly with CDCs in all
parts of the Commonwealth on issues pertaining to sustainable urban
and community development.
New
Ecology, Inc.
130 Bishop Allen Drive, 5th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: 617-354-4099
Fax: 617-354-4098
Email: info@newecology.org
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