Community Opportunity News — September 2024

NACEDA is now the Community Opportunity Alliance

September 30, 2024

National Voice

Rising Insurance Costs – Elevating the Voices of Community Developers

We are delighted to announce a cohort of 24 community development leaders from across the country who are participating in our Community Development Voice initiative. We will engage these representatives several times a year to provide reactions to major current events impacting our field. We will use their insights to influence policy decisions, inform funders, engage the media, and advocate for underserved communities.

 

We recently asked representatives about their property and casualty insurance rates and their organizational insurance rates. We learned that increased rates and

dropped policies for both types of insurance are pervasive across the country, including geographic areas that are not typically associated with climate change. Escalating insurance costs are damaging the organizational health of community development organizations, causing them to raise rents or eliminate programming. Almost all organizations reported that insurance issues have caused them to question whether to take on additional development projects. Some also had to sell properties or lay off staff. “Higher operating costs will discourage investment in affordable housing,” noted Jesus Esquivel of Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing in Arlington, Virginia. View a summary of representatives' responses on rising insurance costs.

Capacity

Join Us Thursday: Peer-Learning Meeting on Nurturing Small Businesses

Are you working to expand economic opportunity in the community you serve? Do you want to learn from peers across the country? We invite you to participate in our Community Economic Development Peer-Learning Network. Our first meeting will be held on October 3 from 1:00-2:30 pm Eastern Time. The meeting will feature a presentation about nurturing small business ecosystems in underserved Washington, DC communities. During the meeting, we will break into smaller groups to share best practices, lessons learned, and helpful resources and partnerships. Register now. We're limiting the number of participants to promote personal engagement. 

New Toolkit: Engage Landlords in Housing Unhoused People

The Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania developed a comprehensive toolkit to help homelessness crisis-response systems place unhoused households into permanent housing more quickly. The toolkit has resources and templates that can be used around the country. It provides information on promising practices, including housing location tools and templates, models for customer service, financial incentives for landlords, and ideas on how to fund the incentives. Director of Programs & Outreach Gale Schwartz said, “Helping families experiencing homelessness find a new home has never been easy, but now with unprecedented demand for rental housing, it has become even harder. Homelessness crisis response systems are having to adapt to the changing market conditions to ensure the people they serve move into a home of their own as quickly as possible.”

Research

Federal Reserve Addresses the Financial Health of Community Development Organizations 

The Federal Reserve released the results of their Community Perspectives Survey, including a report on the Health of Entities Serving Low- and Moderate-Income Communities. Our Executive Director, Frank Woodruff, was a panelist on the Fed Communities webinar that provided insights on their findings. The webinar was moderated by Sydney Diavua, Assistant Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

 

During the webinar, Frank also shared insights from our own reports: The State of Community-Based Development Organizations and The Financial Health of Community-Based Development Organizations. He said, “I would use the findings from the Fed survey and the findings from our own research to get your foot in the door to say ‘I’m a part of field of organizations that is productive and overall financially healthy.’” The Alliance greatly appreciates the opportunity to put the emphasis on the health of community development organizations and looks forward to partnering with the Fed in the future.

Our Latest Report Has Significant Policy & Funding Implications

Financial Health Across Types of Community Economic Development Organizations is the fifth and final report in our Money Meets Community Series. It explores how the financial health of community development organizations varies by their lines of business and by size. The report gives funders, policymakers, and technical assistance providers information to support the unique needs of each type of community development organization in the most effective manner.

 

The report has significant findings related to organizational size. Larger organizations tend to be more financially healthy than smaller ones. This relates to all types of community development organizations. Sector-wide, most funding flows through organizations that are in good or excellent health. 

The report concludes that preventing fragile financial health among the greatest number of organizations could best be accomplished by attending to the needs of mid-size and smaller organizations. 

Money Meets Community: The 80/20 Dilemma

Access the webinar recording and slides from our September 13 webinar. This webinar provided insights into the systemic impact of funding disparities on smaller community development organizations and those led by people of color.

Funding

Disaster Recovery & Preparedness Funding Available

SBP has two funding opportunities available. The National Long-Term Recovery Grant supports nonprofits helping homeowners in FEMA-designated counties recover from disasters declared within the past four years. The Preparedness and Resilience Micro Grant funds nonprofits in high-risk areas to strengthen individual and community preparedness for extreme weather. Both programs prioritize organizations serving immigrants, migrants, refugees, Indigenous people, and communities of color. Applications are open through November 1.

At a Glance: Tax Incentives for Clean Energy & Energy Efficiency

The Department of Treasury has released a new fact sheet for housing developers, building owners, and resident landlords on clean-energy installations and energy-efficiency improvements that are eligible for tax credits and deductions. It supplements the resources from our webinar, Using IRA Clean Energy Tax Credits for Community Development.

Job Opportunities


View current job postings.

To post a job opportunity on our website, contact Kadasha Hershey at [email protected].
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