Can Rent and Utility Payments Reduce Racial Disparities in Lending?

Hubs for Connection and Collaboration ● The Other Emergency at the Border ● Connecting A City's Social Services to Help At-Risk Populations ● Q: Can Including Rent and Utility Payments in Credit Scores Reduce Racial Disparities in Lending?

Week of Monday, July 22 In This Issue: Nonprofit Centers: Hubs for Connection and Collaboration ● The Other Emergency at the Border ● Connecting the City’s Social Services to Help At-Risk Populations ● Q: Can Including Rent and Utility Payments in Credit Scores Reduce Racial Disparities in Lending? ● Shelter Shorts ● Also: Jobs ● Shelter Shorts ● Events + Q: Can Including Rent and Utility Payments in Credit Scores Reduce Racial Disparities in Lending? Shelterforce Staff A: Yes! Including positive payment information in credit reports and scoring models can increase credit scores. In one pilot program, 79 percent of low-income renters whose rents were reported saw. . . Read Full Article Connecting the City’s Social Services to Help At-Risk Populations Amanda Abrams, Shelterforce Health Fellow In Chelsea, Massachusetts, police, medical providers, and social services groups have found a low-cost way to reduce crime while simultaneously encouraging at-risk residents to get the help they need. Here's their simple strategy . . . Read Full Article The Other Emergency at the Border Zoraima Diaz-Pineda, Nick Mitchell-Bennett, Community Development Corporation of Brownsville There’s no doubt about it: there’s an immigration crisis at the border. However, we must recognize the other crisis at the southern border region, one that has affected local residents for many, many years. Read Full Article Shelter Shorts—the Week in Community Development Shelterforce Staff Minimum Wage Bill Passes in the House | NJ Passes a Utility Bill Law | Under-Resourced Neighborhoods and Health | U of M Students Demand Divestiture | And More Quick Takes From Our Editors Nonprofit Centers: Hubs for Connection and Collaboration Saul Ettlin, Community Vision As typically cash-strapped institutions, nonprofits are aware of the cost savings that can be had by moving into a shared workspace. But what are some of the other benefits that nonprofit centers can provide? Read Full Article Industry News Emily J. Stewart has been selected to serve as the new executive director of Community Catalyst, starting Sept. 9. Stewart currently serves as vice president of public policy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Stewart will be taking over from Robert Restuccia, who passed away in March. Liz Fowler joined the Commonwealth Fund as executive vice president for programs. Fowler most recently served as vice president for global health policy at Johnson & Johnson. Julie DeGraaf Velazquez joins the Preservation of Affordable Housing as vice president for community redevelopment. Previously, DeGraaf worked for McCormack Baron Salazar.  Events Wednesday, Aug. 8, 1 p.m. ET | Bridging the Gap — Successful Health and Community Development Partnerships in Practice | Join Build Healthy Places Network, The CaseMade, and NeighborWorks America and learn more about the connections between health and community development and opportunities for partnering to improve health and well-being. To register, click here. Opportunity Our Town creative placemaking grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, support place-based projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes. Applications deadline Aug. 8. To learn more, click here. We only list free events and resources of national interest. To learn about advertising, click here. Rolls up better than your computer, opens faster than your smartphone, instant power on, works anywhere you go! Subscribe to Shelterforce in print! Shelterforce, the original voice of community development! You Said It! On Buying Power: Why Nonprofits Should Own Their Space Chad: When doing community development the need to move to next goals (from health care, once a clinic is established—for instance, to food co-op in a food desert) there is often a real grind to the ‘gear change’. Continuity, owning your own, can be a real boon to efforts meeting deep community need. I like the idea of sharing the building w/other organizations on the same path as we can support each other on wider societal change . . . Read More On Prioritizing Inclusion and Equity in the Next Generation of Mixed-Income Communities Peter Marcuse: An excellent discussion, hitting the controversial key topics thoughtfully, sometimes relying on platitudes—difficult to do here on subjects like equity and fairness and develop their full potential—but succinct and useful. The fact that some significant redistribution of wealth and power is involved in creating peaceful mixed-income communities is not avoided . . .  Read More On Moving Beyond Place-Based Community Organizing Rebekah Kendrick: I appreciate this article and agree that elements you named as important to effective community organizing—the intersectionality of the issues, identity, history or marginalization—can sometimes be missing from traditional place-based community organizing. Virginia Community Voice’s model, called Community Voice Blueprint, also attempts to push the model of . . . Read More Looking for a Job? Scroll Down... In Case You Missed It Housing Vulnerability Analysis: A Discussion Prescription for a New Neighborhood Exploring Foreclosure Through Art Preserving the Character of Little Tokyo  Vulnerable Workers Mean Vulnerable Communities Q: Isn’t the Foreclosure Crisis Over?  What’s the Matter With Newark? Sign up for Shelterforce Weekly! Jobs Administrative and Communications Assistant ● Shelterforce is looking for an administrative assistant. In addition to general office administrative activities (phones, office organization and maintenance), the assistant will also be responsible for maintaining computer equipment, job ad management, invoicing and banking, keeping tabs on circulation . . . Read Full Listing Marketing and Operations Manager ● Shelterforce is looking for a dynamic person to help grow the organization. The successful candidate will be responsible for office operations, board management, finance, HR, and increasing earned income. The manager will work closely with the publisher, taking over completely some tasks and assisting on others . . . Read Full Listing Learning Manager ● The mission for the Innovation Marketplace’s Learning Manager is to create and manage meaningful learning experiences for partners to employ our products and services and ultimately promote better outcomes for individuals and families experiencing poverty. Our partners often include human service providers . . . Read Full Listing Executive Director ● With enthusiastic support from Louisville’s largest foundations, leading philanthropists and the Mayor’s office, the Center For Neighborhoods is seeking a motivated, skilled Executive Director with experience in nonprofit administration and grassroots community planning and development. We are seeking someone to . . . Read Full Listing Executive Director ● The Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust seeks an experienced, dynamic professional with a commitment to housing justice and a collaborative leadership style to expand efforts to create permanently affordable, community-controlled housing along the Fairmount Corridor in Roxbury, Dorchester, and . . . Read Full Listing Click here to post a job! More Jobs Executive Director ● California Community Economic Development Association Director of Applied Research ● Woodstock Institute Case Manager ● New Destiny Housing President and CEO ● Baltimore Community Lending Editor, Miriam Axel-Lute Managing Editor, Lillian M. Ortiz Senior Editor/Development Manager, Keli A. Tianga Assistant Editor, Elizabeth Oguss Publisher, Harold Simon Assistant Publisher, Ana Sanchez Bachman Made possible by the generous support of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ● Kresge Foundation ● NeighborWorks America ● Kaiser Permanente ● Bank of America Foundation ● JPMorgan Chase Foundation ● Citi Community Development ● PNC Bank Foundation ● Hyde and Watson Foundation ● Ocwen Financial Corporation ● BB&T ● Valley National Bank ...and with the support of readers like you.