Community Power in the Face of Structural Violence This is an excerpt from our platform, Pathways to Community Prosperity.   This policy platform was conceived and written in the context of 2020—a year that has tested our collective mettle with unprecedented job loss, climate instability, persistent racial unrest and an unimaginable number deaths from the […]

By Marissa Ramirez (NRDC), Dr. Erica Holloman-Hill (WAWA), Mona Wang (LIIF), and Darryl Haddock (WAWA) We thrive through our connection to land, to community, and to each other. Parks and public lands offer these important connections between people, communities, and nature, as spaces for community stability, health, and well-being – something that this pandemic has […]

On January 6, 2021 we saw the culmination of years of work led by Black women in Georgia — Stacey Abrams, LaTosha Brown, Deborah Scott, Tamieka Atkins, Helen Butler, and Nsé Ufot among scores of others. They galvanized the election of Senator-Elect Reverend Raphael Warnock, the first Black senator from Georgia. Their work also elevated […]

“It is hard to argue that housing is not a fundamental human need. Decent, affordable housing should be a basic right for everybody in this country. The reason is simple: without stable shelter, everything else falls apart.” ― Matthew Desmond, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City In 1964, Burt Bacharach and Hal David penned the […]

By Olivia Barrow, Low Income Investment Fund (original post) Billions of dollars in community development investments have been poured into communities over the last several decades, both in pursuit of drawing resources in to improve places as well as creating pathways to opportunities in other communities. But as Black Americans continue to be murdered by […]

Released June 4, 2020 We are grieving the senseless murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and the uncountable more who have lost their lives to white supremacy. We acknowledge that systemic racism is deeply rooted in the history of this country and that white supremacy manifests itself every day in the […]

Quick Navigation to Categories: Impacts from COVID-19 and the accompanying economic strain will have far-reaching effects on our communities, especially those that have historically suffered disproportionately from under-investment and neglect. As communities across the country come together to respond, the local and national partners at the Strong, Prosperous, and Resilient Communities Challenge are taking action […]

Click here to download the full report. Click here to download the executive summary. Since its formation in 2017, the Strong, Prosperous, and Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC) has had an exacting goal – help shift decades of racially discriminatory policies and investments that have resulted in harmful disparities in health and climate resilience in communities […]

  Proposed changes to federal regulations in community development and lending are an assault on decades of work in fighting the impacts of racial segregation, discriminatory and race-based investment practices, increased risks from pollution and climate change, and unchecked government power in approving projects. The threats are real and they are coming fast. Related Content: […]