Capacity Building

The Center for Community Progress’ nationwide team of experts provide a wide range of capacity building services based on the needs of your community. Our Capacity Building program builds from the successful National Vacant Properties Campaign and Genesee Institute models that worked with over 50 communities since 2004. Community Progress’ team help members of public and private organizations acquire the necessary skills and expertise to build capacity and improve the effectiveness of land use strategies and revitalization efforts for the long-term benefit of community residents.

Our services include, but are not limited to:

Systems Assessments: Community Progress conducts thorough assessments of current policies, procedures, and practices that effect properties throughout the community (e.g. tax collection, land banking, code enforcement, rental housing management, etc.) to identify the primary local challenges and appropriate strategies for achieving specific goals.
Roundtables: A team of experts and experienced practitioners facilitate one-or-two-day site visits to educate the community, local leaders and practitioners about effective prevention, acquisition, and disposition models, and identify appropriate revitalization strategies and tools.
Strategy Implementation: Community Progress’ team can work within communities to implement specific strategies, such as reforming foreclosure procedures and legislation, creating land bank authorities, designing and implementing land management and early warning and information systems.
Support: Community Progress also provides ongoing capacity support to communities as projects and programs are developed to implement new systems and policies.

Two specific areas of additional support include land banking and real estate development support.

Land Banking

Land Banks play a vital role in dealing with vacant, abandoned, and problem properties by enabling tax foreclosed properties to be put back into productive use within communities. Successful land banking programs not only provide short-term economic benefits but also long-term community development. The Center for Community Progress can provide capacity building to your community through helping to establish land banks. These services include:

System Assessment
Strategic Planning
Board Development
Policy & Procedures
Program Development

Real Estate Development Support

Through working in over 50 communities, we have learned that a community’s aspirations for creating vibrant neighborhoods through vacant property reuse are not achieved just by creating and changing systems. To create revitalized communities, significantly greater capacity must be built for community-based and small-scale developers to make use of the opportunity created through enhanced property delivery systems. The Center for Community Progress supports communities in meeting their real estate development and revitalization goals by assisting in all facets of property development. These services include:

Concept Development and Planning
Market and Project Feasibility
Organizational and Ownership Structure of the Development Project
Financial Packaging
Project Management