Tools
The Gap - A Shortage of Affordable Homes
No State Has an Adequate Supply of Affordable Rental Housing for the Lowest-Income Renters
Global Greater Boston: Immigrants in a Changing Region
For as long as it’s been a city, immigrants have been central to Boston’s identity. For this new report Boston Indicators partnered with Immigration Research Initiative to analyze who makes up immigrant communities in Greater Boston, quantify what they contribute to our regional economy, and detail the immigration pathways they take to get here.
Advocates' Guide 2024!
Every year, the National Low Income Housing Coalition publishes the Advocates’ Guide to educate advocates of all kinds about the programs and policies that make housing affordable to low-income people across America.
Compare Project Management Software
Search and select project management software to build your own comparison and see which provider best fits your requirements.
Slides for Community Leadership 101
Francisco Ramos, NewVue CommunitiesWhether you are a community leader or work with community leaders, join us for this training! We will cover the basics of developing community leadership in an organizing and power-building context. We’ll cover organizing principles, the role of the community leader, turn-out, leader role modeling, and more. Whether you are a seasoned professional or new to the work, you’re invited to share your wisdom, stories, and questions. This training will kick of a series focused on community leadership. GOALS Create greater shared understanding of basic organizing/leadership concepts among CDC organizers and other interested folks Create peer learning opportunities across community leaders, organizers and possibly RSCs. Spark a longer ongoing process to help professionals accomplish their goals RE leadership development; identify further training topics Build direct skills for community leaders
Community Leadership 101
Francisco Ramos, NewVue Communities and Sarah Byrnes, RLA DirectorWhether you are a community leader or work with community leaders, join us for this training! We will cover the basics of developing community leadership in an organizing and power-building context. We’ll cover organizing principles, the role of the community leader, turn-out, leader role modeling, and more. Whether you are a seasoned professional or new to the work, you’re invited to share your wisdom, stories, and questions. This training will kick of a series focused on community leadership. GOALS Create greater shared understanding of basic organizing/leadership concepts among CDC organizers and other interested folks. Create peer learning opportunities across community leaders, organizers and possibly RSCs. Spark a longer ongoing process to help professionals accomplish their goals RE leadership development; identify further training topics Build direct skills for community leaders.
Boston Builds Credit
Boston Builds CreditHere, you’ll find free and low-cost resources to help Boston and area residents understand how credit works and learn how to build, protect and improve your credit scores. With a trusted network of partners working with the City of Boston and United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley, our team can put you in contact with a trained financial coach and financial wellness workshops.
Local Tenant Organization Success Stories Webinar, March 2022
Thomas Ruffen, Public Housing ResidentFor residents of public housing, what makes for a successful Local Tenant Organization? In this webinar we talk about how to connect with residents in your development to build a powerful network that can make changes to benefit everyone. Residents are often held back by “The Big 4” -- fear, hopelessness, confusion and division. But through building trusted relationships we can overcome these barriers and improve the quality of life. What follows is an interview with Thomas Ruffen, member of the Mildred Hailey Tenants Organization in Boston, MA.
Local Tenant Organization Success Stories Webinar, March 2022
L'aura Jordan, Public Housing ResidentFor residents of public housing, what makes for a successful Local Tenant Organization? In this webinar we talk about how to connect with residents in your development to build a powerful network that can make changes to benefit everyone. Residents are often held back by “The Big 4” -- fear, hopelessness, confusion and division. But through building trusted relationships we can overcome these barriers and improve the quality of life. What follows is an interview with L'aura Jordan, member of the Elm Terrace Tenants Organization in Greenfield, MA.
Local Tenant Organization Success Stories Webinar, March 2022
Sue Kirby, Public Housing ResidentFor residents of public housing, what makes for a successful Local Tenant Organization? In this webinar we talk about how to connect with residents in your development to build a powerful network that can make changes to benefit everyone. Residents are often held back by “The Big 4” -- fear, hopelessness, confusion and division. But through building trusted relationships we can overcome these barriers and improve the quality of life. What follows is an interview with Sue Kirby, the president of the Morency Tenants Organization in Salem, MA.
Dirty Data Cost Calculator
Association TrendsDownload this whitepaper and learn how to: Calculate how much dirty data is currently costing your association, and how much it will continue costing as time passes without clean-up. Quantify this cost so you are able to communicate the importance of data hygiene to your boss, board, and/or stakeholders.
Turning Towards Each Other: A Conflict Workbook
Jovida Ross and Weyam GhadbianThe exercises in this workbook are offered as a way to bring love into the hard parts of our relationships. Of course, when we’re in the middle of a tense situation, it may not feel like love. It can be helpful to remember that there are always multiple truths present in a conflict: We each experience a situation differently, and interpret what is going on from a different vantage point. Making space for our feelings and experiences to be acknowledged can help us surface deeper insights hidden in the tension and uncover new solutions.
Getting Capital to Small Businesses in Low-Income Communities
The Aspen InstituteHeeding the call for greater race and gender equity, policymakers, donors, and investors want to uplift small businesses in underserved communities. But boosting access to capital for business owners of color is easier said than done. In this video, we identify the importance of microloans in meeting firms owned by people of color where they are in terms of their capital needs. And we highlight the work of community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in serving this vital role. Members of the Aspen Institute’s Microfinance Impact Collaborative, for example, issued over 8,300 loans in 2018, 75% of which were to entrepreneurs of color.
Local Tenant Organization Success Stories Webinar, August 2021
Sue Kirby, Public Housing ResidentFor residents of public housing What makes for a successful Local Tenant Organization? In this webinar we talk about how to connect with residents in your development to build a powerful network that can make changes to benefit everyone. Residents are often held back by “The Big 4” -- fear, hopelessness, confusion and division. But through building trusted relationships we can overcome these barriers and improve the quality of life. What follows is an interview with Sue Kirby, the president of the Morency Tenants Organization in Salem, MA.
Local Tenant Organization Success Stories Webinar, August 2021
Judy O’Kulsky, Public Housing ResidentFor residents of public housing What makes for a successful Local Tenant Organization? In this webinar we talk about how to connect with residents in your development to build a powerful network that can make changes to benefit everyone. Residents are often held back by “The Big 4” -- fear, hopelessness, confusion and division. But through building trusted relationships we can overcome these barriers and improve the quality of life. What follows is an interview with Judy O'Kulsky who is on the board of the newly elected local tenant organization in Belchertown, MA and also serves on the board of the Belchertown Housing Authority.
Local Tenant Organization Success Stories Webinar, August 2021
Carol Roberts, Public Housing ResidentFor residents of public housing What makes for a successful Local Tenant Organization? In this webinar we talk about how to connect with residents in your development to build a powerful network that can make changes to benefit everyone. Residents are often held back by “The Big 4” -- fear, hopelessness, confusion, and division. But through building trusted relationships we can overcome these barriers and improve the quality of life. What follows is an interview with Carol Roberts, a long time board member of the local tenants organization in Caffrey Towers in Brockton, MA and also serves as a board member of the Brockton Housing Authority.
COVID-19 Reopening Guide for Small Businesses
Chamber of CommerceThis guide will cover all that business owners need to know about reopening and navigating current government requirements.
Move The Money: Practices and Values for Funding Social Movements
Building Movement ProjectA set of resources geared towards grantmaking institutions eager to expand and deepen their support of organizations, networks, and leaders involved with social change movements.
Delivering Credit to Entrepreneurs of Color Impacted by COVID-19: Why Community Financial Institutions Are Essential
The Aspen InstitutePrior to the global pandemic, the relatively high small business start and ownership rates among entrepreneurs of color were a bright spot in a period of declining US entrepreneurship. But small businesses have endured some of the hardest stresses of the pandemic, as forced closures and physical distancing have decimated earnings for restaurants, salons, childcare centers, and other services we all rely on. Businesses owned by entrepreneurs of color have been particularly impacted by declining revenues, and despite government efforts to get money into people’s hands, many small businesses have not received the support they need. This is partly a problem with the delivery systems used: programs that flow through banks miss those that have historically been underserved. Fortunately, there are lenders who serve these businesses and communities: Community Development Financial Institutions. CDFIs are mission-driven lenders that serve the parts of America that too often get left behind, inc
Beyond the Board Statement: How Can Boards Join the Movement for Racial Justice? (Part Two)
Jeanne Bell & Nonprofit QuarterlyIn this second part of a two-part series, nationally renowned board and equity consultants Vernetta Walker and Robin Stacia answer participants’ questions about how to transform a board so it embraces a racial equity agenda, In this session, you’ll find many practical examples of ways to approach the work, discussions of the barriers to change, and tools to help organize and ground racial justice in your organizational mission. Stacia and Walker bring an interactive approach that is deeply insightful, grounded in both research and practice, and unrelentingly focused on creating a different and more racially just future.
BoardSource Racial Equity Tools Glossary
BoardSourceRacial Equity Tools has created a glossary of terms to create a shared understanding of words to enhance the way we talk about race. Language is an essential tool in racial equity work, and the terms we use have evolved as this work has developed. Having a common language allows us to better engage, discuss, and reflect on these important issues together. Terms in the glossary include: Implicit bias, Institutional racism, Microaggression, Restorative justice
Cambridge College Resource Library for Business Development Program
Cambridge CollegeThe Business Resource Library connects Consultants, Technical Assistance Providers and students to a variety of learning tools, including sample documents and industry trend topics. This library can quickly provide comprehensive information you may need to assist small businesses during their start-up, stabilization and growth phases. These materials can be downloaded from the links below. This library was built with the collaboration of Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC), Mel King Institute, Lawyers for Civil Rights, and Technical Assistance providers.
Storytelling Toolkit: Lessons Learned from NHT's "Where Will We Live"
National Housing TrustThis toolkit is a guide for advocates to replicate the National Housing Trust’s efforts and successfully employ digital, visual and audio storytelling strategies within their advocacy tactics.
Opportunity360 Community Dashboard
EnterpriseOpportunity360 Community Dashboards provide the information necessary to determine where action is most needed and where established programs and policies have been most successful in any neighborhood in the country. These dashboards now allow data comparison for up to three census tracts, anywhere in the US. In the free Opportunity360 Community Dashboards, you will find over 150 indicators from 27 sources.
Public Policy Resources
BestColleges.comThis guide includes links to free public policy online resources that will help one get a better sense of the entire field.
Public Policy Career Outlook
BestColleges.comThis guide provides you with in-depth information on degree planning including program structures, concentrations, and skill development and application for a Public Policy career.
Earning a Public Policy Master’s Degree
BestColleges.comThis resource will help you learn about the common Master's in Public Policy admission requirements, coursework, and jobs available for graduates.
Vision, Values, and Voice: A Communications Toolkit
The Opportunity AgendaThis toolkit focuses on the broader goal of identifying universal themes and values that tie together a range of issues.
Rights for Renters Messaging
Public Will Initiative with ToposThis tool reiterates focusing on the positives instead of the negatives when it comes to messaging. Even though the series is called Rights for Renters, it isn’t actually limited to renter issue areas—such as the Critiquing Without Undermining Government brief.
A Progressive’s Style Guide
Hanna Thomas (SumOfUs.org); Anna Hirsch (ActivistEditor.com)A Progressive’s Style Guide is explicitly multi-voiced and is created with the following commitments. 1) We combat discriminatory language. 2) We seek advice or more information when we’re unsure. 3) When writing, speaking, or using images, we aim to use examples that reflect a broad range of identities and perspectives.
55 Competency-Based Ideas for Professional Development
The Bridgespan GroupThis extensive list of 55 practical on-the-job learning opportunities will help you build customized development plans for your direct reports.
Massachusetts Small Business Loan Data Project
Massachusetts Community & Banking Council (MCBC)The Massachusetts Community & Banking Council (the MCBC) has sponsored an annual report on small business lending trends in Massachusetts since 1998. In the Spring of 2019, MCBC launched a new online platform – the Massachusetts Small Business Loan Data Project – that serves as a companion to the most recent report, Small Business Lending in Massachusetts 2008-2017, authored by BankMaps. The Massachusetts Small Business Loan Data Project provides an online data service with interactive access to maps and charts from six (6) national databases related to the subject of small business lending in Massachusetts.
DataTown
Massachusetts Housing Partnership's Center for Housing DataThe site compiles community-level information from various data sources for all 351 Massachusetts cities and towns, and visualizes that data in graphics and charts so it's easy to understand, print out and bring to a community discussion.
The National Equity Research Database, Boston Edition
Brandeis Institute for Child, Youth and Family PolicyThis is a database of 286 socio-economic indicators on a wide range of subjects, including demography, education, employment, health, housing, earnings and ancestry covering the Boston metropolitan area.
Building Blocks: Connecting People, Places and Policies
Enterprise Community PartnersA podcast for thought-provoking conversations about the current issues, trends, ideas and big questions facing the affordable housing and community development field in the United States.
MASSCAP Trainings: Recorded Webinars
MASSCAPThis resource contains all the past recorded webinars from MASSCAP (Understanding Immigrant Rights, Community Action Impact, Succession Planning, and More!)
Access: A Community Development Podcast
Federal Reserve SystemAccess is a new podcast from the Community Development departments of the Federal Reserve System. Each episode highlights a successful model or program within the four focus areas of our work: people, place, policy and practice, and small business.
Budget Resources
Mass BudgetShortly after each major state budget release, MassBudget produce a written Budget Monitor that analyzes major proposals across a range of key areas (e.g. education, transportation, health care, revenue).
Inclusive, Local Sourcing: Purchasing for People and Place
Democracy CollaborativeThis toolkit provides hospital and health system leaders with the tools they need to harness their everyday business operations to improve community health through procurement and purchasing focused on locally-owned businesses.
Tools for Cultivating and Connecting Leaders
Living CitiesA well curated toolkit to support effective and adaptive leadership