Mission and Vision

The Mel King Institute for Community Building fosters vibrant and thriving Massachusetts communities by advancing the skills, knowledge and leadership ability of professional practitioners and volunteer leaders in the community development field. We leverage collaborative educational partnerships that increase access, encourage innovation, and promote and institutionalize systemic success.

The Institute enables Community Development Corporations and their partners to build more homes, create more jobs, grow more businesses, nurture more community leaders, and pursue more comprehensive community building strategies that also address issues such as transportation, public safety, green space development, workforce development and youth development.

The Program

We have designed the Mel King Institute to bring community development professionals and volunteers the skills they need to be effective in their positions in the community. We focus both on individual skill and organizational capacity building in order to strengthen the field of community development..

The Mel King Institute:

• Sponsors Trainings – by expanding access to high quality training opportunities, including national programs, and creating additional programs to meet specific needs here in Massachusetts.
• Serves as a Clearing House – The Institute helps CDCs pursue such programs and projects themselves as well as help them forge the strategic partnerships and collaborations that will be essential to long term success.
• Provides Technical Assistance – The Mel King Institute is organized as a collaborative enterprise that leverages the resources of many institutions.

About Mel King

The Mel King Institute for Community Building is named for one of the founders of the Community Development Movement in Massachusetts and across the country. In the 1960s and ‘70s, as a community activist, Mel King led the fight to stop a proposed interstate highway that would have destroyed several Boston neighborhoods. After stopping the highway, Mr. King was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1973 and served until 1982. During his tenure in the Legislature, Mr. King created the infrastructure that built the CDC movement in Massachusetts, including the Community Development Finance Corporation, the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, the CEED program, and the CDC-enabling statute. In 1983, Mel King became the first African American to run for Mayor of Boston. Mr. King subsequently ran the Community Fellows program at MIT for many years and established the South End Technology Center to provide youth with access to technology. He continues to work at the Center and remains an active voice for justice and opportunity.