The
Foundation this year began a new program of support for small
community development corporations
(cdcs), a growing
number of which have been emerging in poor urban neighborhoods
throughout the country. Because they are relatively new, these
cdcs operate on a
more modest scale than the older community development corporations
the Foundation has been assisting for nearly two decades. They work
with local residents and public and private donors to revitalize
their communities through new jobs, low-income housing, economic
development, and crime control. To launch the new effort, the
Foundation made grants totaling $1,332,500 to thirteen emerging
cdcs in nine
cities.
The Tacolcy
Economic Development Corporation
(tedc) in Miami's
predominantly black Liberty City area is typical of these
cdcs. An offshoot of
a youth services center,
tedc was formed in
1982 to buy and renovate a supermarket that closed as a result of
the riot in Liberty City in May 1980. Developing and managing the
property as a full-service neighborhood shopping center is
tedc's first major
project. The project has already stimulated the opening of smaller
stores nearby, and the city is committing funds for new lighting,
parking, and landscaping in the area.
Five of the
other emerging cdcs
that received grants are in Pittsburgh (see list, page 3). The
Howard Heinz Endowment, the Mellon Bank, and the city's Urban
Redevelopment Authority have joined with the Foundation to make
more than $1 million available to the groups over the next two
years for such activities as commercial revitalization and housing
rehabilitation. Similar joint funding efforts are planned for
Baltimore, Boston, and Denver.
Other grants
went to the Barrio Education Project in San Antonio, which is
helping businesses owned by Hispanic women to obtain public and
private loans; the Central Germantown Council, which is
rehabilitating a once-thriving retail district in north-western
Philadelphia; the Drew Economic Development Corporation in the
Willowbrook section of Los Angeles, which is planning several
income-generating projects in connection with the Drew Medical
Center, the neighborhood's most important institution; and the
Northside Preservation Commission in St. Louis, which is expanding
its development of low-income housing.
Technical
assistance in the planning and management of community projects is
integral to the success of emerging
cdcs. Organizations
that provide such assistance receiving grants this year included
the Citizens Forum on Self-Government/National Municipal League in
New York and the Low-Income Housing Information Service in
Chicago.
The
Foundation provided further support for four long-established,
major urban cdcs and
for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation in New York.
lisc provides
community organizations with loans, grants, and technical
assistance for major residential, commercial, and industrial
revitalization projects. Since it began operations in mid-1980,
lisc has attracted
more than 250 corporate and foundation donors and has helped some
370 projects with almost $35 million of its own funds and more than
$15 million in matching funds from local sources.
The
Foundation also made several program-related investments (see page
78) for community revitalization. Low-interest loans went to:
—
Economic Resources Corporation, $1.5 million, to make