The Spring 2010 Living Cities Newsletter highlights recent events and initiatives including: the Neighborhood Stabilization Boot Camp, the Living Cities Integration Initiative, the Project on Municipal Innovation meeting, and an economic roundtable in Detroit to discuss the role of philanthropy in economic development.
Feel free to contact Living Cities Program Coordinator Laura Sanchez with questions or comments at: (646) 442-2215 or lsanchez@livingcities.org
Recognizing the incredible challenges cities face to stabilize neighborhoods struggling with foreclosures and abandonment, Living Cities convened a Neighborhood Stabilization Boot Camp with support from the Rockefeller Foundation. On March 14-16, over 150 participants representing teams of senior leaders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors met at the Harvard Kennedy School for two and a half days of intensive training and peer-learning.
In January 2010 Living Cities launched “The Integration Initiative,” a multi-year effort designed to advance successful models for effective urban investment and transformation. Building upon Living Cities’ long history of investing in cities and acknowledging both the power and limitations of the neighborhood as a lever for change, the Integration Initiative seeks to drive a broader perspective that recognizes the role systems and regions must play in increasing economic prosperity for low-income people.
On March 5th, Living Cities gathered a group of thought leaders from government, the private sector, foundations and non-profit organizations for a roundtable discussion on how to use large-scale flexible funding to reengineer urban economies and drive economic growth and inclusion. The roundtable highlighted the work of the New Economy Initiative in Southeast Michigan and the Fund for our Economic Future in Northeast Ohio, two large-scale collaborative efforts that aim to use philanthropic dollars to spur development and innovation in regions facing economic decline.
Several dozen key city leaders gathered in Boston in late January for an energetic discussion on building a 21st Century innovation economy and revitalizing neighborhoods through transit and connecting low-income residents to economic opportunity. This was the third in-person meeting of the Urban Policy Advisory Group (UPAG), part of the Project on Municipal Innovation, a joint venture between the Harvard Kennedy School and Living Cities. Attendees reported that this was the best meeting so far – with growing attendance, widespread enthusiasm and a sense that organizers have pinpointed an ideal balance between discussing the practical and the theoretical.
Natalie provides programmatic support and works closely with The Integration Initiative team and the members serving on the Integration Initiative committee and lenders group.