Community Development Corporations (CDCs)

Southeast Memphis CDC

Working in southeast Memphis, including Hickory Hill and the surrounding neighborhoods, Southeast Memphis CDC serves an area that makes up close to half of the city’s housing market and 20 percent of Memphis. In partnership with Phelps Security, the University of Memphis, and Memphis Police Department, Southeast Memphis CDC is working on the “Project Safeways” Business Strategy. The initiative will engage local business owners in crime prevention and intervention through establishing a business association, access to crime prevention tools and resources, and training. Read more about Southeast Memphis CDC...

Power Center CDC

Established for the sustainable economic, educational, and social development of the Hickory Hill Community, their two flagship initiatives are the Power Center Schools and the Power Center Academy Town Center. The PCA Town Center is a community model that will include a middle school and high school, a performing arts center, a wellness center, housing and retail. It is being constructed over a 43-acre site with an abandoned 394-unit apartment complex. In 2008 the Power Center launched the charter Power Center Academy Middle School and in 2010 a high school was approved. Read more about Power Center CDC...

North Memphis CDC

Founded in 2000, the North Memphis CDC’s four core functions are business development, workforce development, community education and creating and preserving affordable housing. Their affordable housing development, construction and management began in 2004 and all their units are available to families at or below 50% of Memphis’ median income. Read more about North Memphis CDC...

LeMoyne-Owens College CDC

Situated in the Soulsville neighborhood, LeMoyne-Owen College CDC offers technical assistance, loans, and training to local businesses, while also supporting comprehensive community development of Memphis' Soulsville neighborhood. In 2003, the CDC began acquiring properties for the four acres of land where a $11.5 million Towne Center project is now located. The CDC envisions that the building will be 77,000 square feet when complete, with about 30,000 of that occupied by a new, locally owned grocery store. Read more about LeMoyne-Owens College CDC...

Jacob’s Ladder CDC

With an ecumenical mission of revitalizing inner city neighborhoods through partnership, Jacob's Ladder Community Development Corporation was founded in 2003. Much of their work has focused on the Beltline community, one of Memphis’ most centrally located and diverse areas, also with some of the highest crime rates in the city. Jacob’s Ladder is working with the Hyde Family Foundation and the University of Memphis to create neighborhood property condition maps and statistical crime reports. Read more about Jacob’s Ladder CDC...

Frayser Community Development Corporation

The Frayser neighborhood is a “Renewal Community” and has been designated by the City of Memphis as a “Priority Area.” Founded in 2000, the Frayser CDC purchases, renovates, and resells homes in Frayser, most of which are HUD foreclosures, to low-to-moderate income first-time homebuyers. Frayser CDC program areas include homebuyer education, affordable home sales, and foreclosure counseling. Read more about Frayser Community Development Corporation...

Cooper-Young Development Corporation

Serving Memphis’ Cooper-Young neighborhood since 1991, CYDC is one of the oldest CDCs in the city. They work to improve the housing stock and increase homeownership levels in Cooper-Young by constructing and rehabilitating affordable housing projects. Since 2009 they have developed 58 properties. They have recently begun to focus on the Southeast quadrant of Cooper-Young and have begun to partner with the adjacent Rozelle-Annesdale neighborhood. Read more about Cooper-Young Development Corporation...

Binghampton Development Corporation

Founded by the Christ United Methodist Church in 2003, Birmingham Development Corporation has begun an Urban Farm and is looking to open an Urban Farm market in early 2011. They have a combined housing acquisition and construction investment of $2.3 million, have purchased 70 properties and assisted homeowners in purchasing 21 properties, and have constructed 7 new homes. The group’s housing counseling program offers counseling on financial literacy, homebuyer education, Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), and foreclosure prevention counseling. Read more about Binghampton Development Corporation...

Watts Labor Community Action Committee

Established in 1965 by labor union members, Watts Labor Community Action Committee fosters economic development in South Central Los Angeles and provides social services for South Central Los Angeles residents. The group has constructed and manages over 5,000 houses and apartments for low and moderate-income families and senior citizens, in addition to several commercial properties and business ventures. It also runs several programs that generate and recycle income within the community. Read more about Watts Labor Community Action Committee...

Vermont-Slauson Economic Development Corporation

Located in South Los Angeles, in a community whose unemployment rate hovers around 20% Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation (VSEDC) has produced more than $60 million in physical development projects and created/retained more than 3,000 jobs in the South Los Angeles community, including the 57,000 square foot Vermont Slauson Retail Center, the 18,000 square foot Western Slauson Business Center, and the 10,000 square foot Business Enterprise Center. The 175,000-square foot Vermont Slauson Shopping Center it developed in 1981 was one of the few structures that was untouched by the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The shopping center has created 450 jobs. VSEDC participated in a consortium agreement with other LA County non-profits and municipalities to rehab and acquire foreclosed or vacant properties to create up to 700 units of affordable housing. Through its micro-business incubator, VSEDC offers loan assistance and packaging, affordable office space, as well as technical assistance.

TELACU (The East Los Angeles Community Union)

Initially funded through federal legislation, TELACU is one of the largest minority-focused community development corporations in the United States. TELACU Community Capital, one of its subsidiaries, operates as a Community Development Financial Institution, providing special financing and technical assistance to nontraditional small business owners.  The parent CDC owns a number of business enterprises operating within four industries – Real Estate Development, Financial Services, Construction, and Construction Management—that all provide a “double bottom line,” meaning they generate profits for the CDC while creating positive social impact.

New Economics for Women

Established in 1984, New Economics for Women was founded on two core principles:  1) the needs of women and children had to be an economic priority in order for any neighborhood to prosper; and 2) community support and participation had to be the cornerstone of all affordable housing programs and projects. To date, the group has helped nearly 400 families purchase their first home and has developed an economic development center, a community center, three charter schools, a health and wellness center and a national award-winning planned community, Tierra del Sol. Read more about New Economics for Women...

Esperanza Community Housing Corporation

Founded in 1989, Esperanza Community Housing Corporation develops affordable housing, promotes accessible health care, and pursues economic development in the Figueroa Corridor neighborhood of South-Central Los Angeles. Its Community Health Promoters’ Program trains bi- and trilingual low-income residents to become community health leaders, who better understand community needs and have marketable skills for further employment. To date, the CDC has also completed nine affordable housing projects that provide a total of 165 housing units. In developing Mercado La Paloma, the group has helped create 15 businesses, 80 jobs, and a community-gathering place.

East Los Angeles Community Corporation

Founded in 1996, the East Los Angeles Community Corporation works to preserve neighborhood assets and strengthen existing community infrastructure in Boyle Heights and Unincorporated East Los Angeles. The group develops affordable housing, provides financial literacy and first-time homebuyer programs, and other community services. The CDC’s achievements include leveraging over $135 million of investment for the Eastside, providing affordable housing for over 1,000 residents, and helping over 3,000 families purchase a first homes, avoid foreclosure, establish savings, and build and sustain community wealth.

A Community of Friends

Focused on creating permanently affordable housing and a stable community environment, A Community of Friends has completed over 1,700 units at 43 properties, primarily throughout Los Angeles County. Since its founding in 1988, the group has secured over $400 million in financing from city departments, allowing it to develop projects ranging in cost from a $600,000 rehabilitation of a five bedroom house and two free-standing duplexes to a $62 million project that provided 149 studio units for veterans. Read more about A Community of Friends...

Swope Community Builders

Swope Community Builders (SCB) was established in 1991 and is a member company of Swope Community Enterprises. SCB is the largest CDC in the state of Missouri and its four-state region, which also includes Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. SCB is the sole Primary Property Developer for the State of Missouri and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in Kansas City, where they rehabilitate foreclosed residential properties, while selling to buyers with less than 120 percent of Kansas City's median income. Read more about Swope Community Builders...

Neighborhood Housing Services of Kansas City, Inc.

Neighborhood Housing Services of Kansas City, Inc. (NHSKC) is a non-profit founded in 1974, and is also a chartered NeighborWorks® Organization as of 1994. NHSKC has helped create 336 jobs and created 345 new homebuyers, while preserving 233 units of affordable housing with an investment of $62.2 million from 2006 to 2010. The annual NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute will be held in Kansas City for 2011, in which teams from across the country will develop community improvement plans. Read more about Neighborhood Housing Services of Kansas City, Inc....

Hispanic Economic Development Corporation

Hispanic Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) is a non-profit founded in 1993 with a focus on developing communities that enhance the quality of life for Latinos in Kansas City. HEDC takes action through business development and community wealth-building initiatives and has assisted more than 1,100 new Latino businesses develop since its inception. From 2010 to 2011, HEDC provided technical assistance to 451 entrepreneurs with a total of 1,640 counseling sessions in their service area. 117 of those assisted were in Jackson County, MO. Read more about Hispanic Economic Development Corporation...

Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City

Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City (EDC) is a non-profit agency founded in 1987 to support economic development by fostering a connection between communities and businesses. EDC has helped the 125-year historic Kansas City Southern, a transportation holding company, relocate two of its facilities to Kansas City from Louisiana. With a $4 million investment, 129 new jobs were added to the city's job market. Read more about Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City...

Blue Hills Community Services

Blue Hills Community Services (BHCS) is a non-profit founded in 1974 serving the residents of Blue Hills and surrounding neighborhoods using a block-by-block strategy to revitalize the community. Blue Hills has developed more than 960 affordable housing units, and has further assisted communities through their Save Our Streets crime prevention program and by administering education funds by the U.S. Department of Education. Read more about Blue Hills Community Services...