Field Building

We guide field-building and drive thought leadership by bringing together major movers to discuss strengthening CDCs’ collective work, problem solving for racial equity, and supporting supervisors and staff in career planning.

Innovation Forum

The Mel King Institute’s Innovation Forum is a regular gathering for community development  professionals in Massachusetts to hear from experts on a new challenge or opportunity in the field and discuss adaptive solutions. The Innovation Forum provides a safe space to discuss sometimes contentious topics in community development. 

The Forum intentionally includes all stakeholders in the field – CDCs, funders, lenders, policy makers, consultants, academics, and other partners – to ensure that our thinking is reflective of the entire field and our solutions have broad support. Specifically, the goals of this effort are two-fold: (1) to be a forum for innovative thinking about the future of the community development field in the state, and (2) to generate and advance practical ideas and strategies that the field can implement to increase its effectiveness and be responsive to changing community conditions. 

MKI Intern Network

Coming soon!

Core Competencies

This toolkit was designed to support the professional growth of community organizers and
community engagement staff. The toolkit was developed by and for organizers! Front line organizers
helped identify the 6 competency areas and piloted the tools, offering feedback on content and format.

We encourage you to set aside the time for professional development, so that you can be a more effective organizer. The toolkit includes:

1. Core Competencies Chart, which describes six key skill and knowledge areas that
are vital for strong organizers;
2. Tracking Tool, through which staff can evaluate their skill/knowledge levels in the
six core competency areas and identify next steps to deepen their learning; and
3. Training and Resource Catalog, which staff can use to identify courses, conferences,
online and other resources from around the US, to help achieve their professional
development goals. This Catalog is housed on the Mel King Institute website.

Check out the tools below:

Awards

See Past Awardees HERE.