Leaders come together to forge plans for revitalization

Leadership Institute Tackles Abandonment of Properties

 

CAMBRIDGE, MA – With foreclosures and job loss impacting cities once considered stable as well as those confronting long-term decline, state and local officials from ten communities in Illinois, Indiana and Louisiana gathered in Boston last week to learn and share ideas about effective strategies to address the vacant properties these economic challenges have left in their wake. On March 13th at Harvard University, the Center for Community Progress, the nation’s preeminent organization committed to preventing abandonment and supporting the adaptive reuse of vacant buildings and land, launched its second Leadership Institute. While each community and state is unique, all share a common concern with vacant properties and their parallel challenges – including many that stem from the recession and foreclosure crisis.

Community Progress President Dan Kildee, the former Genesee County, Michigan treasurer who pioneered one of the nation’s first land banks, led the group through an intense three-day curriculum that touched upon key techniques for prevention, control and adaptive reuse of vacant buildings and land, including tax and foreclosure reform, the land bank concept, code enforcement and land re-use planning. In addition, Community Progress staff and experts focused on issues of policy change and strategies for building public support for problem property and land reform efforts.

For the nine participating cities, the Harvard sessions are only a beginning – to be followed up with visits to each community by a team of experts assembled by Community Progress, who will work with local and state governments and advocates in applying the insights gleaned at the Leadership Institute to their local communities and regions.

“These participants have been chosen for the tremendous confidence we have in their ability to champion effective, efficient systems that foster strong communities,” says Amy Hovey, Community Progress’ Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Capacity Building. “At the same time, as gratifying as it is to see change come to one community, the Leadership Institute takes our work to another level entirely. By launching our reform efforts at this kind of scale, we address the problem with a systemic approach that our experience has shown can make a real difference. We can’t afford to wait for things to happen in one city at a time. This kind of cohesive engagement is the best way to tackle the challenges facing so many American cities today – comprehensively, with the tactical support and expertise cities need to make real, sustainable improvements.”

Besides state officials from Illinois, Indiana and Louisiana, participating cities include Chicago, Aurora, Carpentersville and Elgin, along with officials from Illinois’ Kane and Cook Counties; Indianapolis, New Albany and South Bend, Indiana, plus officials from Marion County; and the Louisiana cities of Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans.

The initial seminars began on the Harvard Law School campus on Tuesday, March 13 and continued through Friday, March 16.

The Center for Community Progress works to create vibrant communities and improve the overall economic and social wellbeing of cities and towns in America through the reuse of vacant, abandoned, and problem properties. We serve as the national resource for policy, information, capacity building, and training regarding the redevelopment of vacant, abandoned, and problem properties; we partner with federal, state, and local officials and non-profit organizations that work to reposition these properties; we collaborate with experts on research that contributes to the growing body of public policy on successful reuse; and we serve as the leading national advocacy organization on effective reuse strategies. To learn more, call 877-542-4842 x150 or visit www.communityprogress.net.