Blog

Our blog unpacks complex approaches to community revitalization so you feel ready to return vacant properties to productive use. Sign up for our newsletter to get solutions in your inbox.

September 3, 2020

Go “Back to School” With These Post-COVID-19 Trainings – Black Neighborhoods, Future of Cities, and More Community Development Help

We know this fall is won’t be “normal.” What we do know is that from back-to-school planning to preparing 2021 budgets, we’ll need real-time data and updates…

September 3, 2020

FREE “Boot Camp” Helps Fighting Vacancy – Join Us for the 2020 VAD Academy!

Property revitalization has never been more critical need as cities across the country continue to battle vacancy, abandonment, and housing instability resulting from natural disasters and the COVID-19…

August 20, 2020

Filling the Gaps: Helping Struggling Property Owners Connect to Rehab and Repair Resources

Today, property owners – homeowners, landlords and businesses – feeling the active COVID-19 impacts are also bracing for a possible larger real estate market downturn and more…

August 20, 2020

New Webinars Unlock the Black Middle Neighborhood Challenges and Opportunities

In the last twenty years, predominantly African-American ‘middle neighborhoods’ have endured the same challenges as other communities, but with different results. The historic injustices that were thought…

August 20, 2020

Community Development is Crucial in This Moment

Written by Dr. Akilah Watkins-Butler on April 6, 2020 The pandemic is highlighting the crucial necessity of community developers’ work. Here’s what the field will need to…

June 18, 2020

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…

June 16, 2020

Filling the Gaps: Helping Struggling Property Owners Connect to Rehab and Repair Resources

Today, property owners—homeowners, landlords and businesses—feeling the active COVID-19 impacts are also bracing for a possible larger real estate market downturn and more unknowns. These influences, especially…

June 3, 2020

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…

June 2, 2020

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…

June 1, 2020

From the Great Recession to COVID-19: Land Banks are Critical to Long-Term Equitable Recovery

Today’s COVID-19 public health crisis is evolving. As governments and business work to anticipate the potential housing and economic crisis that could follow, there is renewed focus…

How Land Banks and Under-Resourced Developers Can Collaborate to Build Affordable Housing

Ways that land banks and under-resourced developers can collaborate to build green, affordable infill housing.

What are Proactive Rental Inspection Programs?: Keeping Homes Occupied and Communities Healthy

Proactive rental inspection programs shift code enforcement from reactive to strategic, identifying health hazards like lead paint, mold, and broken heating before they harm tenants or push properties toward vacancy. Learn how local governments design effective programs, with examples from cities across the country.

How Land Banks Can Address Brownfields: Case Studies

Land banks are well-positioned to engage in brownfield redevelopment. As public entities with unique powers to address vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties, land banks can help communities return these properties to productive use in alignment with community goals. A growing number of communities across the country are seeing land banks…

Why Home Repair Programs Are Essential for Preventing Property Vacancy and Abandonment

Home repair is a core strategy to stop properties from becoming vacant in the first place.

How Better Data Helps Communities Address Vacancy

What data sources you should be looking at if you’re interested in understanding, tracking, and solving property vacancy in your community.

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

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

How a New Jersey Land Bank is Converting Vacant Properties into Homes for Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Holders

Learn how Newark, New Jersey is leveraging an underutilized HCV provision to make homeownership a reality for low-income residents.

How Philanthropy Powers Land Bank Success

Examples of how philanthropic partnerships have helped land banks launch new programs to revitalize communities.

Five Creative Placemaking Projects Reimagining Live-Work Spaces

Examples of live-work unit projects that are transforming their neighborhoods through creative placemaking.

How to Explain Vacant Property Work: A Plain Language Guide

Talking about community revitalization is hard. Here’s some ways to explain vacancy when people don’t understand your work.

Blog

Filter by Date

Topics