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How to Convince Your Boss to Send You to the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference
How to Convince Your Boss to Send You to the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference

So you want to attend the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference (RVP). It sounds awesome, right? Three days of networking, learning relevant skills, and seeing real-life examples of neighborhood revitalization up close. But your boss needs some convincing. After all, you’ll have to be away from your day job and spend…

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Tips for a Successful Session Proposal for the 2024 Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference
Tips for a Successful Session Proposal for the 2024 Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference

How to write a session proposal for the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference that will get noticed.

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Meet Kat Guillaume-Delemar, President & CEO of Community Progress
Meet Kat Guillaume-Delemar, President & CEO of Community Progress

For Kat Guillaume-Delemar, community revitalization is a deeply personal journey.

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A Message from President and CEO Akilah Watkins
A Message from President and CEO Akilah Watkins

Dear friends and supporters of the Center for Community Progress, With great sadness and great gratitude, I announce that I will be departing from the Center for Community Progress at the end of 2022, to assume the role of President and CEO of Independent Sector. Over these last five years…

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Lessons from 2022 VAD Academy
Lessons from 2022 VAD Academy

On June 15, more than 900 people joined us for the 2022 VAD Academy—a day-long virtual bootcamp for professionals and community partners whose work and communities are impacted by vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) property challenges. Throughout the day, experts from Community Progress led trainings on the causes of systemic…

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Submitting a Session Proposal for the 2022 Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference? Read This First.
Submitting a Session Proposal for the 2022 Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference? Read This First.

If you’re here, it probably means you’re thinking about submitting a session proposal to Community Progress’ flagship conference, Reclaiming Vacant Properties. Luckily, we’ve got you covered with some tips for writing a good session proposal that’ll grab our interest, and your attendees’ interest too!  Begin at the end: What will…

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#LoveThatLot 2022: Show Your Favorite Formerly Vacant Lots Some Love
#LoveThatLot 2022: Show Your Favorite Formerly Vacant Lots Some Love

February is a special month at the Center for Community Progress. And that’s because it’s time for our annual Valentine’s Day celebration, #LoveThatLot, where you share with us your favorite revitalization projects and community champions, and show them some love too! Here’s how to participate: Share your favorite community revitalization…

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Community Progress Weighs in on $350 Billion ARPA State and Local Recovery Fund
Community Progress Weighs in on $350 Billion ARPA State and Local Recovery Fund

Center for Community Progress recently submitted a public comment letter in response to the Treasury Department’s Interim Final Rule (“IFR”) implementing the American Rescue Plan Act’s (“ARPA”) $350 billion State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (“SLFRF”). The public comment period is open through Friday, July 16, 2021, and public comments…

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Michigan Initiatives Quarterly Update: April – June 2021
Michigan Initiatives Quarterly Update: April – June 2021

This quarterly update from Community Progress’ Michigan Initiatives team highlights important revitalization news and resources from across the state. For specific inquiries or to share how your community is addressing vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties in Michigan, email Payton Heins, Director of Michigan Initiatives at [email protected].

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New Paper by Alan Mallach – Making the Comeback: Reversing the Downward Trajectory of Black Middle Neighborhoods in Legacy Cities
New Paper by Alan Mallach – Making the Comeback: Reversing the Downward Trajectory of Black Middle Neighborhoods in Legacy Cities

In city after city, the Black middle neighborhoods face the most significant challenges and have seen the sharpest declines across the country when compared to other middle neighborhoods. Black middle neighborhoods lead in the struggle to receive public help, programs, amenities, and more. In a new paper, Making the Comeback:…

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Community Progress Announces Juneteenth Closure

Dear Partners,  This Friday, June 19th, the Center for Community Progress will be closed in celebration of Juneteenth. As our staff and team enjoy the day as a paid holiday, we encourage all who regularly commemorate July 4th that marks the independence of our nation to join in celebrating this important…

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Life Should Not be Determined by a Person’s Race [the Death of George Floyd]

We at the Center for Community Progress are enraged and grief-stricken at the loss of yet another Black life at the hands of police.   Since 1619, the compounding symptoms of a problematic culture have systematically disenfranchised people of color in America. The unjust, preventable murder of George Floyd was one…

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Download Alan Mallach’s “Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst: Addressing the Aftermath Of The COVID-19 Pandemic In America’s Struggling Neighborhoods”

“We don’t know what will happen – there are far too many unknowns at this point – but we can already anticipate many of the risks, and what to expect after the pandemic is behind us.“ – Alan Mallach As the United States is gripped by the most severe pandemic…

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We Will Need Code Enforcement Now More Than Ever: Three COVID-19 Responses to Protect Neighborhoods

In the sea of COVID-19 uncertainty, there are a few neighborhood-level realities we know for sure. Our neighbor’s financial constraints may postpone planned repairs – like fixing that damaged roof that’s in danger of collapsing; the tenants in the 3-flat at the corner of the block could face eviction, due…

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Your Support Means [Community] Progress

#GivingTuesdayNow 6 Ways Your Support Helps Create Community Progress  For more than 10 years, the Center for Community Progress has helped America’s highest-need communities respond to the challenges of vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties. From addressing the unjust policies and impacts of America’s past to raising our voice in response to community…

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About Tomorrow…Giving Tuesday

Dear Progress Makers,  Your support matters. While the debates and data continue to evolve around our current public health crisis, there are at least two things we know: First, our households, streets, and world will never be the same. And second, we can’t leave the future of our communities to chance. 

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Why Investing in Communities Matters More than Ever in the Time of Coronavirus (Webinar)

Get answers! The COVID-19 pandemic is emerging as not just a health crisis but as a community crisis. What is the role of community development investment and cross-sector partnership with healthcare in strengthening resilience and equity in our post-COVID-19 world? Dr. Akilah Watkins-Butler, CEO and President for the Center for Community…

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New Podcast: Community Progress CEO Shares on Leadership During COVID-19 & the “Existential Threat” to Nonprofits

How are nonprofit leaders across the United States “holding it together” during the COVID-19 pandemic? Authors and producers of Nonprofit Quarterly’s TinySpark Podcast, Amy Costello, and Frederica Boswell, recently took on the topic engaging senior-leaders across the country to better understand how the public health crisis is impacting non-profits today….

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Community Progress Announces Upcoming Webinars Focused on Preventing Post-COVID-19 Vacancy

Over the last 30-days we’ve watched the COVID-19 health crisis forever change the fabric of this country. The lives of millions of Americans have been impacted and the need for equity will grow exponentially.  As communities are grappling with the immediate health, social, and economic impacts of this unprecedented pandemic,…

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Critical COVID-19 Opportunities for Communities Combatting Vacancy

As America actively battles one of history’s most impactful public health crises, the necessity of community development work and urgent help for communities in need is growing exponentially. As with every widespread American emergency, COVID-19 presents us with both real dangers, and real opportunities to advance equity, stability, and more…

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