Field Notes

These are stories about the work and impact of NCRC members in their communities. What are the economic justice needs and solutions in your community? Submit your story ideas.

Virginia Community Voice Empowers Residents to Create Change in Historically Marginalized Neighborhoods

By / / Field Notes, Views / 4 minutes of reading

For the past decade, Richmond’s Virginia Community Voice (VACV) has been a blueprint for how organizations can drive equitable community engagement, amplify citizens’ voices and foster radical healing in their own backyards. VACV’s work centers on creating and implementing equitable processes for addressing community needs by empowering residents to identify challenges in their own neighborhoods […]

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Changing the landscape: How Community Development Advocates Build Capacity and Power in Philadelphia

By / / Field Notes, Views / 3 minutes of reading

The future of housing often feels solely in the hands of large private developers and politicians. But the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC) has spent the last three decades working to tip the scales in favor of everyday people. Since its founding in 1992, PACDC has served as the connective tissue between more

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Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group’s innovative approach towards tackling the local affordable housing crisis

By / / Field Notes, Views / 3 minutes of reading

Through an inclusive, community-centered approach, NCRC member Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG) is working to revitalize Allegheny County’s single family housing market and put homeownership back in the hands of families through their policy advocacy and financial education efforts.  PCRG began in 1988 as a coalition of local nonprofits dedicated to addressing racially discriminatory practices

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New Jersey Citizen Action Fights Economic Injustice Through Direct Services and Coalition Power

By / / Field Notes, Views / 3 minutes of reading

For 43 years, New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) has been a cornerstone for economic justice in the Garden State, serving more than 15,000 families annually through programs ranging from free tax preparation to foreclosure prevention.  NJCA emerged from broader citizen action movements in response to the Reagan Administration’s cuts to social programs and deregulation efforts.

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Covenant Community Capital’s Work Making Homeownership Attainable for Working Class Buyers

By / / Field Notes, Research, Views / 4 minutes of reading

NCRC member organizations pursue a range of missions that fit broadly under the umbrella of promoting economic equity for all Americans. The research team at NCRC supports those members in many ways, including providing assistance in quantifying the impact of our members’ efforts in their communities. One Houston, TX-based community development financial institution (CDFI) offers

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A Place to Call Home: How NCRC Tools Help Denver Nonprofit Advocate for Equitable Housing

By / / Field Notes, Views / 3 minutes of reading

Housing nonprofits in Colorado had their hands full following the Great Recession of 2007. Fewer homes were being built, with unemployment causing housing insecurity rates to rise exponentially. Local and state governments also had fewer resources to help those in need. “After the Great Recession, there was a desire to co-advocate in a way that

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Reclaiming Tribal Lands Through Innovative Economic Development Efforts

By / / Field Notes, Views / 4 minutes of reading

The lack of affordable housing and other structural barriers to homeownership are a nationwide problem. Yet, for Native communities living on tribal lands, those dynamics become an even more complicated challenge to overcome. They are often overlooked by traditional state, local, regional and federal housing assistance programs and minimized as constituents given their unique sovereign

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Utah Housing Coalition Fosters Community Collaborations Towards Increase Housing Stability

By / / Field Notes, Views / 3 minutes of reading

Small but mighty – that’s the self-described motto of the two-person team leading the Utah Housing Coalition (UHC), a nonprofit organization that promotes equitable and sustainable communities by ensuring all Utahns have a safe and affordable place to call home. “We always say we take on the role of a low-income voice because those are

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Baltimore Community Lending Celebrates Grand Opening of Business Development & Resource Center

By / / Field Notes, Views / 3 minutes of reading

Aspiring small business owners in Baltimore are gaining a powerful new ally, right in the heart of downtown.  Baltimore Community Lending (BCL) will launch its new headquarters and Business Development & Resource Center (BD&RC) on June 18, 2025. The new facilities at 301 N Calvert St. reflect BCL’s recent expansion of its mission to revitalize

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United South Broadway Corporation: A Holistic Model of Community Development

By / / Field Notes, Views / 3 minutes of reading

NCRC member organization United South Broadway Corporation (USBC) is a shining example of what it looks like when an organization tackles a problem holistically. The community development corporation was created to help low-income community members purchase homes in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since then, it has grown statewide, establishing community programs that have changed the outcomes

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NCRC Member Advances Housing Accessibility And Sustainability In Rural New Mexico

By / / Field Notes, Views / 3 minutes of reading

For over half a century, Tierra del Sol Housing Corporation has been a trailblazer in the community development sphere, providing single and multi-family housing to farmworkers, seniors and lower-income individuals across rural New Mexico. For most of those years, executive director Rose Garcia has been at the heart and helm of the organization. A Latina

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How Community Land Trusts Create Lasting Change

By / / Field Notes, Views / 4 minutes of reading

Social movements have been a crucial part of every major political shift in modern history. However, in between moments of upheaval, having structures in place that can survive the whims of both politics and market forces is incredibly important in continuing the momentum of those movements for societal change.  During the Civil Rights Movement, activists

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Cultivating a Green Workforce in Bridgeport

By / / Field Notes, Views / 5 minutes of reading

In 2002, Adrienne Farrar Houël returned to the United States after a successful 25-year career in international marketing and real estate development in France, Russia and Ireland “to retire,” she said, laughing at the obvious contradiction. For the past two decades, Farrar Houël and her colleagues at Greater Bridgeport Community Enterprises have been anything but

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Black Developers Collective Aims to Keep the Black Dollar in the Community

By / / Field Notes, Views / 2 minutes of reading

When someone spends a dollar, where does it go? The answer depends entirely on who they spent it with. If you bought something from a business, does that business buy its supplies locally or from somewhere else? When the business owner takes your money home with them, are they going around their corner to their

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NCRC And Its Members Expand Fair Banking Options In Underserved Communities

By / / Field Notes, Views / 6 minutes of reading

Imagine relying solely on predatory payday lenders or prepaid debit cards to secure the funds needed to meet your daily expenses. This is the reality for the 5.6 million households in the United States without access to the financial services that a bank or credit union can provide to historically underserved communities.  Whether it’s an

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