• Investing in a city health district during the pandemic

    Memphis, Tennessee, shows the benefits of having community investment and social infrastructure, supported by philanthropy and institutions, in place during a pandemic.
    During Covid-19, the Memphis Medical District Collaborative (MMDC) has worked to keep local businesses afloat while pursuing its long-term goals of revitalization of an underserved community. The collaborative’s 2020 activities have included a Small Business Emergency Assistant Fund, streetscape...Read more

  • New urban revitalization in an underserved community

    The Atlanta neighborhood of Pittsburgh was the subject of foundation investment to develop in an equitable way.
    The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently reported on progress in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Atlanta, where the foundation funded a new urbanist Preservation of Pittsburgh plan in 2012. The name of the neighborhood has roots in its smoky, industrial character during the first half of the 20 th...Read more

  • Keys to creating lovable community gardens

    Although community gardens are often the most unkempt area of the neighborhood, there is no reason that they can't be beautiful—and here are some ideas to make them so.
    Community gardens today are far too often the rattiest and most unkempt places in a neighborhood; anything worse would get cited by the city as a public nuisance. Part of the problem is the fact that vegetable gardens have long been considered utilitarian, something worthy of similar aesthetic...Read more

  • Statewide code reform is a good idea

    Although zoning was adopted locally, state legislation is helping to revise community land-use codes for the 21st Century.
    Many states—Oregon, California, Michigan, Minnesota, and Vermont—have either adopted or are moving forward with legislation that loosens the restrictions on “missing middle housing”—defined as small multifamily units that are similar in scale and compatible alongside single-family dwellings. State...Read more