housing corporations and neighborhood-based community development organizations, of which the Foundation considered cdcs the most effective in working on neighborhood revitalization and housing development. This early and continuing support of the cdc movement will probably be remembered as the Foundation's most important contribution to housing. A 1972 Foundation Information Paper states:

Perhaps our most recognized and important achievement to date has been in establishing the community nonprofit housing corporation as a new institution in the production of aided housing.

Aiming both to serve the disadvantaged and to stem urban decline, cdcs combined professional skills with the autonomy, street wisdom, and pride of the local community. In 1967 the Foundation made its first direct grant to a cdc—the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. The purpose was to stimulate private business involvement in reconstructing the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. Other cdcs supported early on were the Watts Labor Community Action Committee in Los Angeles and The Woodlawn Organization in Chicago.

For many cdcs, upgrading the quality of housing in their neighborhoods was a first step toward comprehensive revitalization. One of the first projects of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation in the late 1960s was a home-facade improvement program. For a nominal fee, residents would receive approximately $1,200 in repairs to the exteriors of their homes. In return, they agreed to spend an equal amount on interior improvements in the future.

The program was designed to achieve highly visible, quick results and to boost the pride and morale of the community. Within two years, the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation had completed exterior renovations on twenty blocks. These blocks became a showcase for site visits from members of the banking and insurance industries, which previously were reluctant to lend in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area. In the years that followed, more than 5,000 homes received facade improvements. Over time, Restoration was able to induce banks and other financial institutions to lend over $100 million in mortgages and home-improvement loans in the community. By starting with facade improvement, the Bed-ford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation was able to achieve long-term improvements in housing quality.

Since the first grant to Restoration, the Foundation's support for it and other cdcs has exceeded $100 million in grants and more than $32 million in Pri support. A substantial proportion of this amount has been devoted to