The dual benefits of community ownership mean better health for residents and patients. As an undocumented immigrant growing up on Chicago’s West Side, Jeisson Apolo and his mother were at the mercy of their landlord. “He saw the fear in our eyes and took advantage of it,” Jeisson said. …

Efforts to address trauma are finally being democratized For many of us, the global lockdowns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic have made our homes places of respite, healing, and renewal. But for many others, including the unhoused, “home” is not always healing and can in fact be just the opposite. …

Community benefits agreements, community ownership, and resident voice can help neighborhoods thrive from local investment. The impending construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood comes with the promise of reinvigorating the community. A 2019 community benefits ordinance has mandated that the City and developers build with an…

Could rural hospitals build on existing social services work by investing their assets to advance their communities’ health? Examples from Kansas, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Virginia show some possibilities. By Amanda Abrams One of the biggest new trends in the community development sector over the past half-decade is the entry of…

Black-led CDFIs are uniquely attuned to Black communities yet have six times less capital than White-led CDFIs. We know one thing from the 2008 economic meltdown: Communities of color were stripped of wealth and had only recently begun to find their footing again. When the COVID-19 pandemic swept the country…

Access to healthy food can support not only personal health but neighborhood health It says something about the persistence of food deserts in low-income neighborhoods when the managers of Carver Market, a new grocery store in Historic South Atlanta, have to drive 200 miles roundtrip each week to a small…

How leaders in community development and health see the future after coronavirus. By Barbara Ray, for Build Healthy Places Network The coronavirus has plunged the country into a crisis few alive have ever experienced. As the weeks wore on and the death toll mounted, the pandemic did something else: It…

Community development, health systems, policymakers, and others can come together to help ensure that loneliness and isolation among seniors are a thing of the past. By Barbara Ray We probably haven’t met them. The neighbor on the third floor who never goes out. The gentleman down the street whose garage…