Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation

The long-term impact we envision is to create a neighborhood that as it grows retains a diverse socio-economic population, and becomes more stable with stakeholders who participate in ensuring its well-being. As we increase engagement among residents who live in our housing and in the broader community, diverse voices will be at the table when decisions about housing and transportation are made that affect the neighborhood. Our broader goals to achieve these aims are as follows:Increase resident leadership and engagement in Allston Brighton CDC owned housing.Increase supply and access to quality housing for a range of incomes.Ensure housing and transportation projects meet the needs of the diverse population of Allston Brighton.

Our current Community Investment Plan strategy is three-fold:

Goal 1: Increase resident leadership and engagement in ABCDC-owned housing.
ABCDC is committed to ensuring that all residents living in ABCDC owned housing have access to the services and resources they need for secure tenancies, to avoid homelessness, and to foster a stable environment for the entire portfolio. We also believe that meaningful resident engagement and leadership is essential to creating a positive and healthy environment in the housing and in the larger community. We will:
➢ Increase resident participation in ABCDC resident-specific events, programs, and services.
➢ Ensure stable tenancies for residents in ABCDC properties.
➢ Increase resident leadership and civic engagement.

Goal 2: Increase supply and access to quality housing for a range of incomes.
We will increase access to affordable and workforce rental housing and homeownership ensuring that Allston Brighton remains a vibrant community for residents from a range of incomes. All our housing development activities will maximize sustainable and green housing practices to the degree feasible, and be located near transit for easy access to employment centers including downtown Boston. We will:
➢ Increase the supply of rental housing affordable for families who have low and moderate incomes.
➢ Increase the supply of homeownership opportunities and access to homeownership for low and moderate income families, and for a range of incomes.
➢ Improve performance of ABCDC properties.

Goal 3: Ensure housing and transportation projects meet the needs of the diverse population of Allston Brighton.
Working with neighborhood residents and other stakeholders, we will advocate for policies to ensure that housing and transportation changes in Allston Brighton meet the diverse needs of the community. Our goal is to engage residents as leaders and ambassadors in community planning efforts to ensure that the views of residents are incorporated into decision making. We will:
➢ Promote policies that increase access to quality housing for existing residents and to ensure equitable transportation access.
➢ Increase resident engagement in community and transportation planning and advocacy to ensure the voice of residents is incorporated into decision making about the future of Allston Brighton.

Allston Brighton CDC collaborates with a range of organizations from small neighborhood groups to large private universities and hospitals. Given the prominent presence of institutions in our neighborhoods, we have found collaboration to be an effective strategy for reaching our desired outcomes and striving to make sure that the institutions are responsive to the needs of the community. Through collaborations, we are able to provide resources or draw on our partners' expertise to provide services, e.g. the Allston Brighton Neighborhood Opportunity Center and Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, both of whom provide financial assistance for tenants in CDC buildings. Allston Brighton CDC will finance implementation of the strategies above by strengthening current relationships and continuing to reach out to new potential funders who seem likely to be interested in the organization's strategic direction. We have demonstrated success in securing funding from a balance of public and private grants, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, donations from individuals and small businesses, special events, housing developer fees, and other program fees (earned by the homeownership program, from the properties' asset management and resident resource fees, and from financial and shared services provided to the non-profit co-located with the CDC).

Our strategic Community Investment Plan began in January 2017 and as of August 2017, already we have accomplished great things:Our community center on Commonwealth Ave has opened and we have begun programming with baby playgroups, yoga, senior coffee hours, computer labs, ABCD case management, and more. We are also growing our capacity in the center by hiring a full-time Resident Services Specialist to support our Resident Services Manager.Our resident-based Leadership Development Academy will launch in September 2017 and we are excited to grow this program through a collaboration of our Resident Services and Community Engagement teams.We have a 33-unit building under agreement that we are anticipate buying and having an application in by the end of the calendar year.We are applying to a City of Boston RFP for land owned by Harvard in hopes of building 24 affordable homeownership units.We have a joint venture agreement signed with a private developer to build mixed income housing. We are negotiating acquisitions on this project now.We have sold 5 properties through All Bright Homeownership so far this calendar year.Our volunteer financial coaching program is up and running with 3 coaches, one of which is being trained through NeighborWorks to be certified as a financial coach.We have held 7 in-person and 7 online Homebuying 101 classes so far in 2017.As for goals we are working towards for the future:We need to finalize a low income tax credit new construction project to get one under agreement for financing by 2018.We have not had the capacity to get transportation policy advocacy off the ground just yet. We are working diligently with a group of residents on the I-90 Task Force to move the project in a way that is advantageous to Allston Brighton, but we have not been able to dedicate as much staff time to this as we would like. We are in the beginning stages of evaluating the best way to proceed.Our plans and strategies to move the dial on zoning, land use, and development policy that meets the needs of the community are still in their infancy. We have robust volunteers who are strategically prioritizing how to tackle this.