Stories of Philanthropic Leadership in Advancing Regional and ...

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ForewordAcross North America, recognition is growing thatcurrent public decisions guiding land use anddevelopment are putting at risk people, theenvironment, and the economy. Manifestations of thesedecisions include increasing social and economicinequity, accelerating concentrations of poverty,weakening of public schools, growing traffic congestion,worsening air quality, and jobs locating farther andfarther away from homes and apartments that familiescan afford. Regional growth and development patternsprofoundly impact the life circumstances of low-incomecommunities and people of color. Too many people areoften isolated in neighborhoods without living wagejobs or without the public transit needed to accessemployment in other parts of the region. Too manychildren struggle in poor quality, deteriorating schools.Too many live in communities plagued with poor airand water quality and toxic sites. Too manyneighborhoods lack important services and amenitieslike full-service grocery stores, banks, safe parks, andinviting public spaces.As a result of the growing awareness of and concernabout these problems, an increasing number of peopleand organizations have emerged to call for betterdecisionmaking about growth and development.While these emerging movements use various names—smart growth, regional equity, social justice, NewUrbanism—together they have the potential toprofoundly influence the future shape of communities.But this will only occur if they demand thatdecisionmakers look at the big picture, make choicesthat improve the entire community, consider all theoptions, make fairness a priority, and guaranteemeaningful citizen participation in public decisions.We believe strongly that these movements for a betterenvironment, stronger economy, and social justice canbe far more effective in reaching their potential byjoining together, rather than focusing on these separateissues in isolation from one another. A growingnumber of experiments, projects, and initiatives nowexist on the ground across North America that showhow funders and grantees are working acrossdisciplines to achieve significant and lasting progress—progress that will ensure that all people and familiescan participate in and benefit from economic growthand activity throughout regions. We are pleased tooffer to you this report to showcase some of theseexciting efforts and help you learn from them.Philanthropy has a critical role to play in leadingefforts to demonstrate how we can advance aregional and neighborhood equity framework. TheFunders’ Network seeks to help funders to fulfill thisrole by helping them learn from and advance bestpractices; lift up promising examples and projects;and work together to increase their leverage andimpact. This report by the Regional andNeighborhood Equity Project (RNEP) of theFunders’ Network is intended to contribute to theseoutcomes. The profiles highlighted in this reportrepresent years of work by the members of RNEP,the funders that have come before them, and theirhigh performing grantees and partners.The release of this report coincides with an importantevent—Advancing Regional Equity: The SecondNational Summit on Equitable Development,Social Justice, and Smart Growth—on May 23-25,2005, in Philadelphia. Since its founding, the Funders’Network has worked to develop a deeperunderstanding of smart growth and its potential forpromoting regional and neighborhood equity. Muchprogress has occurred but there is much more to bedone. The 2 nd National Summit provides a venue tocelebrate successes thus far and to share, learn, and setstrategic priorities for advancing better decisionmakingso that future growth and development will make ourregions and communities places of opportunity foreveryone. We hope this report and the 2 nd NationalSummit help build greater understanding in the fieldand move us forward to the next level of action.Carl AnthonyChair, Regional andNeighborhood Equity ProjectActing Director, Community andResource Development Unit,Ford FoundationL Benjamin StarrettExecutive DirectorFunders’ Network for SmartGrowth and Livable Communities1 Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities
PART I:IntroductionThe Purpose of this ReportThe Funders’ Network for Smart Growth andLivable Communities commissioned this report tohelp document the progress being made by fundersand their partner organizations to advance regionaland neighborhood equity on the ground in regionsand communities across North America. The storiesshared here highlight not only specific projects andorganizations, but also share lessons learned bygrantmakers who have been involved in and arecommitted to supporting them.Throughout North America, cities have sufferedfrom the migration of jobs, population, investmentcapital, and opportunity away from urban centersand into the fringes of metropolitan areas. Thispattern, commonly referred to as sprawl, has beenthe dominant shape of growth and development forover 50 years. It is the result of both public decisionsabout land use and the process by which thosedecisions are made.Low-income communities and people of color have beenforced to pay a terrible price by these public decisions.Too many neighborhoods are isolated, cut-off from theeconomic opportunities, services, and social networkscritical for full participation in society. The residents ofthese communities live with high crime rates, crumblinginfrastructure, poor services, and inadequate housing.Reinvestment, where it does occur, often fails to addressthe needs and aspirations of the residents of thesecommunities, which can lead to displacement andfurther isolation. Gentrification and disinvestment donot necessarily operate in isolation. In many instancesone community is struggling with the costs and benefitsof gentrification while a neighboring community in thesame region remains severely disinvested.Until relatively recently, the interplay betweenregional development patterns and inequality/inequityhas not been widely addressed by social justiceadvocates. As this report documents, this is beginningto change. Many foundations are developing andencouraging innovative approaches to link advocacyfor social justice to policy change focused on land useand regional planning. Recognizing that land usedecisions impact a broad range of issues that funderscare about (such as poverty alleviation, economicopportunity, the state of children and families, andmore), since its inception, the Funders’ Network forSmart Growth and Livable Communities haspartnered with organizations such as PolicyLink toadvance the objectivesof opportunity,justice, and equity byencouraging betterdecisions aboutgrowth anddevelopment.The intendedaudience for thisreport includesfunders, individuals,and organizations advocating for better planning anddecisionmaking to improve communities andregions. Several goals exist for this report. At onelevel, its purpose is to lift up the profiled projects asnational examples of foundation leadership in orderto encourage other funders to engage in this work.Second, its purpose is to demonstrate to keystakeholders that extend beyond philanthropy—public and private sector leaders, practitioners, andadvocates—that cross-sectoral collaborations cancreate sustained progress. Finally, this report isdesigned to inspire, catalyze, and strengthenphilanthropic leadership and expand funders’ abilitiesto support organizations working to build moreequitable and livable communities.The Movement for Smarter GrowthMany foundations aredeveloping and encouraginginnovative approaches to linkadvocacy for social justiceto policy change focused onland use and regionalplanning.Place-based strategies for improving communities andregions have coalesced into a movement based on a setof principles known as smart growth. The AmericanPlanning Association (APA) defines smart growth asusing comprehensive planning to guide, design,develop, revitalize, and build communities that:• Value long-range, regional considerations ofsustainability over short-term, incremental,geographically isolated actions;• Preserve and enhance valuable natural andcultural resources;• Equitably distribute the costs and benefits ofdevelopment;Part I: Introduction2
Page 1 and 2: Stories of Philanthropic Leadership
Page 3 and 4: Signs of Promise:Stories of Philant
Page 5 and 6: Funders’ Network for Smart Growth
Page 7: (II. B.)(II. C.)Turning Neighborhoo
Page 11 and 12: social justice issues as they relat
Page 13 and 14: PART II:Perspectives on Advancing R
Page 15 and 16: peer work, we can reestablish a sig
Page 17 and 18: Annie E. Casey FoundationBaltimore,
Page 19 and 20: neighborhoods into healthy ones—g
Page 21 and 22: Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation
Page 23 and 24: Section 1:Promoting Equitable Publi
Page 25 and 26: I. A. BUILDING POWER AND GIVINGVOIC
Page 27 and 28: policy advocates. In 2002, Milwauke
Page 29 and 30: in Los Angeles, Ford’s Anthony no
Page 31 and 32: I. B. PROMOTING COALITIONSTO ADVANC
Page 33 and 34: Yet the interpersonal dynamics of c
Page 35 and 36: guidelines. “Many of the member o
Page 37 and 38: Funder InterestThe EPA supported th
Page 39 and 40: I. D. DEMONSTRATING THESTRUGGLE FOR
Page 41 and 42: Richmond, Calif.The second regional
Page 43 and 44: through policy reform at the local
Page 45 and 46: I. E. BUILDING COALITIONTHROUGH KNO
Page 47 and 48: organizing project, the Connecticut
Page 49 and 50: and businesses are quantified in a
Page 51 and 52: I. G. REVITALIZING WHILEASSURING DI
Page 53 and 54: In the late 1990s, the city of Albu
Page 55 and 56: I. H. A TRAVEZ DE LA FRONTERA:LAND
Page 57 and 58: The International Community Foundat
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I. I. MOBILIZING ACTION FORREGIONAL
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To meet all of these objectives, th
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efforts. And with each public plann
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pattern of disproportionate transpo
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Clinica de la Raza identify this cr
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Contact PeopleCarl AnthonyActing Di
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Section 2:Making All Neighborhoods
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II. A. REACHING BEYONDHOUSING TO IM
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A local resident receives the keys
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East Baltimore community and the Jo
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example, adjacent to the EBDI area,
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II. C. YIELDING REGIONALBENEFITS TH
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is using transit-oriented developme
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financing and innovative, forward-t
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The Row House Community Development
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II. E. COUNTERING THE PERFECTSTORM:
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funded community programs, includin
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housing developments and commercial
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owned enterprises, totaling $8.5 mi
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LOAN GUARANTEESSection 3:Connecting
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III. A. MAKING HOUSING ANOPPORTUNIT
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A new report from the National Hous
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The Straphangers Campaign was found
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Funder InterestThe Straphangers Cam
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or increase poverty. Whether direct
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The Regional Plan Association then
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multi-stakeholder effort composed o
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director with LISC. No one set of s
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12 western Louisville neighborhoods
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III. E. UNITING THREE STATESFOR ONE
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increased their personal wealth by
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summary evaluation of MSDI found th
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method alone was strong enough to m
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consistent body of work. The Counci
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3) Issues Need to be ConnectedThe f
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PART V:Glossary of TermsThe terms d
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Regional and neighborhood equity. A
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Tijuana River Reserve, California:h
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Sargent Shriver National Center on
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1500 San Remo Avenue • Suite 249
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