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.

Boston Builds Credit

Boston Builds Credit
Here, 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.

Getting Capital to Small Businesses in Low-Income Communities

The Aspen Institute
Heeding 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.

COVID-19 Reopening Guide for Small Businesses

Chamber of Commerce
This guide will cover all that business owners need to know about reopening and navigating current government requirements.

Delivering Credit to Entrepreneurs of Color Impacted by COVID-19: Why Community Financial Institutions Are Essential

The Aspen Institute
Prior 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

Cambridge College Resource Library for Business Development Program

Cambridge College
The 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.

Opportunity360 Community Dashboard

Enterprise
Opportunity360 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.

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 Data
The 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 Policy
This 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 Partners
A 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

MASSCAP
This 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 System
Access 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 Budget
Shortly 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 Collaborative
This 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.

Jargon Buster- Build Healthy Places Network

Build Healthy Places Network
Tool 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

WalkBoston
Tool 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 Council
Explore MCBC's compendium of resources on their new website intended for boosting the availability of credit and financial services in low-income communities

All in Cities Initiative

PolicyLink
Toolkit includes policy ideas, data and assistance to advance racial economic inclusion and equitable growth

Assets & Opportunity Scorecard

Corporation for Enterprise Development
CFED created an interactive state by state ranking of household financial security and policy solutions

The Poverty Primer

Tamarack- An Institute of Community Engagement
This 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 Communities
Online resource to help communities measure progress toward their sustainability goals

Ask Co-op Cathy

Cooperative Development Initiative
Resource for answering any questions you may have on starting a co-op

Opportunity Index

Opportunity Nation
Interactive map of the United States showing how states and counties compare in terms of access to opportunity based on economic, education and community indicators

MicroMentor

MicroMentor.org
MicroMentor connects entrepreneurs and mentors to build small businesses together.

Open Platform to Build Applications

The Guardian
Whether you want to reach wider audiences, engage users more deeply or develop innovative advertising campaigns we have a range of services that can accelerate your digital ambitions.

Interactive Mapping Software

PolicyMap
Access the PolicyMap online mapping application from any Web browser on any OS and immediately begin creating and saving your own custom, interactive maps.

Small Business Guide

Citi
These guides contain a wealth of information on starting and running your business and also include activities, worksheets, self-assessments, glossaries, and valuable additional resources for you to consult along the way.

Best Practice Resources

Field at the Aspen Institute
To help practitioners - and the microenterprise field - move toward long-term growth and stability, FIELD has engaged in extensive research and developed a variety of resources.

microTracker

Field at the Aspen Institute
microTracker helps microenterprise programs, donors, and investors track the performance and client outcomes of microenterprise organizations nationwide.

Advocates’ Guide to Housing and Community Development Policy

National Low Income Housing Coalition
A compendium of all federal housing, community development, and related programs and issues with both current and historical information.