Community Progress Launches New Community Revitalization Fellowship for Resident Leaders (Press Release)
January 10, 2019
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| News Release (PDF) |
| About the Community Revitalization Fellowship |
| About Center for Community Progress |
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Community Progress, a national nonprofit organization, is launching a new nine-month fellowship to help grassroots community leaders revitalize neighborhoods that are struggling with vacancy, abandonment, and disinvestment. In 2019, 18 residents—cohorts of six people from three different communities—will be awarded the first-ever Community Revitalization Fellowships.
The Community Revitalization Fellowship Request for Applications is available to download here. Applications are due at 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday, February 22, 2019.
“Residents know best what their neighborhoods need, and they need to be at the decision-making table to make sure revitalization is inclusive,” said Dr. Akilah Watkins-Butler, president and CEO of the Center for Community Progress. “The Community Revitalization Fellowship helps residents shape, and lead, efforts to transform vacant properties into community assets.”
In 2019, the Community Revitalization Fellowship will focus on helping residents lead community-based efforts to improve vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties in order to make their neighborhoods safer for everyone.
Fellows will gain knowledge about neighborhood stabilization and revitalization strategies, strengthen their on-the-ground projects or advocacy efforts, and build stronger relationships with their peers, local organizations, elected and government officials, and others.
The Community Revitalization Fellowship involves three cross-community learning exchanges, “Revitalization 101” trainings for up to 40 additional residents in each of the three communities, and ongoing support from a key local partner organization in each community.
The Fellowship primarily aims to serve residents who are engaged in their neighborhoods as volunteers, not as career professionals. Community Progress hopes to reach not just community leaders who are well-known, but also the “rising stars” whose volunteerism and advocacy could be transformed through participation.
Fellows receive stipends to support their participation in the program. The local partner organization in each community receives pass-through funding to provide guidance, mentorship, and logistical support to that community’s Fellows.
The Community Revitalization Fellowship is made possible through a three-year grant from the Oak Foundation.
About Center for Community Progress
The mission of Center for Community Progress is to foster strong, equitable communities where vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties are transformed into assets for neighbors and neighborhoods. Founded in 2010, Community Progress is the leading national, nonprofit resource for urban, suburban, and rural communities seeking to address the full cycle of property revitalization. The organization fulfills its mission by nurturing strong leadership and supporting systemic reforms. Community Progress works to ensure that public, private, and community leaders have the knowledge and capacity to create and sustain change. It also works to ensure that all communities have the policies, tools, and resources they need to support the effective, equitable reuse of vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties. More information is available at communityprogress.org.
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