Tools
Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General Hospital and HMO Community Benefits Reports
MA Attorney General's Office (AGO)The Attorney General's Office (AGO) provides guidance on how non-profit hospitals and health plans should develop and report on the benefits and programs they provide to the public. The Attorney General's Community Benefits Guidelines gives expectations on how hospitals and HMOs should determine the health care needs of their communities, plan programs with their community partners, and report those activities to the AGO. This tool allows users to browse and search reports and to download report data.
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.
Homes for Families: Family Housing Resource Guide Massachusetts
Brooke Murphy, UMass Boston Master of Public Administration Graduate StudentAll of the resources, terms, definitions, subsidies and programs one should know to create affordable family housing in Massachusetts.
Green + Healthy Property Management: A Guide for Multifamily Affordable Housing
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)LISC created this Guide to help affordable housing owners define and pursue measures to reduce the use of energy, water, and harmful chemicals in their properties, reduce waste generated on site, create healthier living environments for residents, and reduce the carbon and environmental footprint associated with residential properties.
Equitable Development / Brownfields Planning
Groundwork USAGroundworks USA's technical assistance team offers customized strategy, tools, and peer support for those in brownfield-affected communities seeking a more inclusive planning and redevelopment agenda in which everyone can prosper.
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!)
Housing Toolbox for Mass Communities
MHPStrategies and best practices for the creation and preservation of affordable housing, with guides, tools and resources for local boards & committees, planners, municipal staff, developers, and volunteers.
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.
The Cost of Affordable Housing: Does it Pencil Out?
Urban Institute and the National Housing ConferenceThis interactive online tool illustrates how charging rents affordable to low-income families makes it difficult to finance affordable housing without subsidy.
Jargon Buster- Build Healthy Places Network
Build Healthy Places NetworkTool demystifies community development and public health jargon terms for those working with peers in other sectors
Pedestrian Infrastructure: Strategies for improving pedestrian safety through low-cost traffic calming
WalkBostonTool provides examples of low-cost measures to calm traffic and enhance safety on municipal streets and state roads
Shared Ownership Toolkit
Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE)Explore case studies, videos and resources on how to create a shared ownership business enterprise
Resources from the Massachusetts Community and Banking Council
Massachusetts Community and Banking CouncilExplore MCBC's compendium of resources on their new website intended for boosting the availability of credit and financial services in low-income communities
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Mapping Tool
Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentMapping tool from HUD allows communities to explore race disparities and fair housing considerations in their area
Assessment of Fair Housing Tool
Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentLocal governments can use this tool to assess their communities' compliance with the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule
Ready to Respond: Strategies for Multifamily Building Resilience
Enterprise Community PartnersGuidebooks includes strategies for protecting buildings and residents during natural disasters
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule Guidebook
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentGuidebook explains the new AFFH rule and how to plan communities in compliance with fair housing guidelines
MassHousing HomeOwnership Video Series
MassHousingVideo series is designed to help would-be home buyers and organizations who assist homebuyers
All in Cities Initiative
PolicyLinkToolkit includes policy ideas, data and assistance to advance racial economic inclusion and equitable growth
Addressing Community Opposition to Affordable Housing Development: A Fair Housing Toolkit
Housing Alliance of PennsylvaniaLearn about how to effectively address the concerns of those opposed to affordable housing development in their communities
Consolidated Planning/CHAS Data
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy data can be used to explore the extent of housing problems and housing needs, particularly for low income households.
The Impact of LIHTC in Massachusetts
Affordable Housing Rental A.C.T.I.O.N.Factsheet covers the positive impact of LIHTC in Massachusetts from 1986-2013
2015 Enterprise Green Communities Criteria
EnterpriseCriteria required to become a certified green community from Enterprise
American Housing Survey
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentSurvey data collected by the U.S. government on housing
Preserving, Protecting and Expanding Affordable Housing
Change Lab SolutionsThe toolkit provides information on housing market trends and research on the links between rising housing costs and poor health outcomes.
Massachusetts Housing Toolbox
Massachusetts Housing Partnership and CHAPAThis website explains strategies that local officials and volunteers can use to garner support for affordable housing
How Housing Matters
Urban Land Institute, MacArthur FoundationWebsite showcases research demonstrating the importance of affordable housing
Assets & Opportunity Scorecard
Corporation for Enterprise DevelopmentCFED created an interactive state by state ranking of household financial security and policy solutions
The Poverty Primer
Tamarack- An Institute of Community EngagementThis booklet covers the essential elements of developing and sustaining a long-term, local effort to reduce poverty
The Sustainable Community Indicator Catalog
Partnership for Sustainable CommunitiesOnline resource to help communities measure progress toward their sustainability goals
Ask Co-op Cathy
Cooperative Development InitiativeResource for answering any questions you may have on starting a co-op
Opportunity Index
Opportunity NationInteractive map of the United States showing how states and counties compare in terms of access to opportunity based on economic, education and community indicators
Healthy Food Access Portal
PolicyLinkOur three organizations created this web information portal in 2013 to maximize the impact of these new opportunities and better support communities seeking to launch healthy food retail projects.
Fair Housing Toolkit
Metropolitan Area Planning CouncilThe Fair Housing Toolkit brings together available resources to help appointed and elected leaders, municipal planning, housing and development officials, developers, citizen board members, and other volunteers understand how to affirmatively further fair housing.
MicroMentor
MicroMentor.orgMicroMentor connects entrepreneurs and mentors to build small businesses together.