ABOUT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

CTAC’s initiatives in Community Development address the conditions and root causes of poverty through systemic change. CTAC supports community-based leadership by providing technical assistance to community-based organizations, conducting research and evaluation, and catalyzing policy and advocacy initiatives.

CTAC particularly engages with communities that are disenfranchised, facing high poverty rates and barriers or challenges that have limited their access to mainstream avenues of support for their agenda. Most initiatives continue over a multi-year period, recognizing the time it takes to bring about substantive change.

CTAC has provided assistance to a wide range of community-based organizations, coalitions, and public institutions - with special emphasis on community-based organizations in New England and the Mid-Atlantic States. Groups that CTAC has served - diverse in race, language and culture - range from Southeast Asian refugees to African-American elders and Latino immigrant workers. The organizations' programs range, for example, from neighborhood-initiated economic development projects, to services for the disabled, to multi racial housing coalitions. CTAC also provides assistance to community foundations, human service agencies, and others directly concerned with strengthening low-income communities.

At the request of local leaders, and in cooperation with funders and other stakeholders that may be involved, CTAC provides technical assistance through on-site assessment, training, mentoring and support. CTAC’s on-site work is designed to:

a. Increase the sustainability of selected organizations, recognizing the fact that addressing the complexity of poverty and related challenges requires a sustained, well-organized effort, by working with organizational leaders to:

assess organizational capacity
identify organizational development needs, and address critical weaknesses
identify resources and support systems or networks that can assist; assess the usefulness of those supports, and identify barriers or challenges for access
put together an incremental and workable plan for ongoing capacity-building efforts

b. Increase the impact of selected organizations, addressing the community needs they have identified/prioritized, by working with organizational leaders to:

expand and diversify community involvement and leadership
better utilize data and other sources of information to inform decision-making
analyze situations and factors related to the group agenda, and study the causes at both the micro (local) and macro (city, state, national, international) levels
examine best practices and consider a range of alternative strategies for implementation
identify and analyze collaborative or networking relationships, determining when and how best to invest time and resources
balance multiple strategies for maximum impact, while staying true to identity, mission and values, and maintaining organizational vitality
build monitoring and evaluation processes into organizational practices

c. Contribute to the impact of broader movements or networks of change, through the effective participation of community groups that bring the grassroots voice and power to the table.

Current Community Development initiatives include:

Small Grants and Technical Assistance Program
Annual Leadership and Networking Summit