The post Building Trust & Overcoming Biases in Affordable Housing Development appeared first on coUrbanize ..read more

The post How mall redevelopments save time and money by demonstrating community support appeared first on coUrbanize ..read more

About Cascades Marketplace A plan by Willard Retail to breathe new life into an aging shopping center in the suburbs of D.C., Cascades Marketplace will transform a decades-old, partially vacant shopping center into a vibrant town center. The 3-block, 34-acre development will include several hundred housing units, a refurbished retail corridor, and a pedestrian-friendly town center. Priming the discussion with hybrid engagement The project team decided to establish a line of communication with the community before any public meetings took place, because “it’s harder to address concerns when yo ..read more

MassDevelopment – Shirley Ave Participatory Budgeting – Revere, MA When the city of Revere, a small city north of Boston, reached out to MassDevelopment about gathering local feedback on how $275,000 of their Community Development Block Grant funding would be spent, the development finance agency and land bank knew it would need a unique strategy to connect with residents beyond the usual suspects at public meetings. Since the pandemic, the world has really cracked open in terms of hybrid community engagement,” says Laura Christopher, MassDevelopment’s TDI Fellow for Revere. “With limited st ..read more

Young people support housing development more than those over 50 In August 2023, coUrbanize conducted a 10-question survey with all registered community members of the coUrbanize platform, and received over 2,000 responses. The survey asked about community members’ perceptions of new real estate development and planning initiatives, as well as what types of housing development they believe would increase affordability and whether they have attended virtual or in-person public meetings. Learn more about our key findings, and how coUrbanize clients can leverage this data to maximize their commu ..read more

Support for New Development Continues to Rise Post-Pandemic Among coUrbanize Community In August 2022, coUrbanize conducted an 11-question survey with all registered community members of the coUrbanize platform (past and present), and received over 1,600 responses. The survey asked about community members’ perceptions of new development, as well as what types of development they would like to see in their neighborhood and whether they consider their community affordable currently. Learn more about our key findings, and how coUrbanize clients can leverage this data to maximize their community ..read more

Investing in Meaningful & Equitable Engagement Yields Quick Returns At coUrbanize, we’ve worked with development teams across the country on 500+ projects. When it comes to community outreach, we’ve seen what works, what doesn’t and why. Learn what our customers have to say about the ROI of using coUrbanize for community engagement, and the average time saved by avoiding delays. The post 2022 coUrbanize Customer Impact Report appeared first on coUrbanize ..read more

How People’s Viewpoints About Development in their Community Have Changed This spring, we issued our second annual survey to understand the bigger factors that shape people’s perspectives – from the affordability of their community to how they find out about what’s happening in their neighborhood. This survey results explore how sentiment about affordable housing varies based on the beneficiaries. It also dives into the impact of virtual community meetings and people’s desire to keep them as a permanent fixture in civic engagement. This new data has already provided such value to our team as ..read more

NIMBYism stems from biases strengthened by misinformation about what affordable housing brings to a community. Because the biases are so deeply rooted, it’s difficult to change NIMBYist mindsets. But not impossible. In this guide, we offer tips on 1) identifying common biases, 2) recognizing how the biases manifest themselves in discussions about affordable housing, and 3) influencing the tenor and productivity of the discussions. The post Addressing Biases about Affordable Housing Development appeared first on coUrbanize ..read more

Chapter 2 of The New Community Outreach Playbook The post How to Create a Meaningful and Equitable Community Engagement Strategy appeared first on coUrbanize ..read more