The Community Development Partnership (CDP), a non-profit organization creating opportunities for people to live, work, and thrive on the Lower Cape, is pleased to announce a Community Impact grant award in the amount of $17,000 from the Cape and Islands United Way to support a new program – the Cape Community Housing Partnership. The Cape Community Housing Partnership is a comprehensive community-based strategy to increase the region’s affordable housing capacity. Through the program, low- to moderate-income residents, business and community leaders, municipal staff, and local elected and appointed officials with the knowledge and skills to support the creation of more affordable housing.
“The Cape Community Housing Partnership is an innovative approach to building support for affordable housing,” said Jay Coburn, Executive Director of the CDP. “We are grateful that the Cape & Islands United Way has recognized that responses to the region’s need for affordable housing require funding outside-the-box approaches.”
The Cape Community Housing Partnership is a collaborative effort between the Community Development Partnership and the Housing Assistance Corporation and incorporates a comprehensive three-part strategy – 1) Cape Housing Institute; 2) Advocacy Training; and 3) a public education campaign.
The Cape Housing Institute is a six-week training for elected and appointed municipal leaders and town staff. Participants will learn the resources and skills needed to help their towns better assess affordable housing needs, develop affordable housing production plans, identify appropriate development sites and partner with for profit and not for profit developers. The Institute is scheduled to begin the week of October 11, 2017. Each session will be held in the Upper, Mid, Lower and Outer Cape.
Advocacy Training will help community members advocate for affordable housing. Participants will develop leadership, organizing and public speaking skills, while gaining an understanding of how affordable housing is created and how decisions are made at a town level that either support or hinder the development of affordable housing. Training is scheduled to begin in early 2018.
A public media campaign to educate the community on who lives in affordable housing will also begin in 2018.
For more information about the Cape Community Housing Partnership, contact CDP’s Business & Homeownership Programs Manager, Andrea Aldana (508) 240-7873 x10, andrea@capecdp.org or at www.capehousinginstitute.org.
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP
The Community Development Partnership supports an array of programs that strengthen our Lower Cape community, providing greater opportunities for all who live here to thrive.
Our work starts with creating affordable homes—so essential to a healthy economy, but a real challenge in communities like ours where seasonal and vacation dynamics drive the market beyond the reach of many who live and work locally all year round.
We also work to launch entrepreneurs and strengthen local businesses. We believe a vibrant future depends on sustaining traditional industries and inspiring new ones—especially when they’re based on renewable natural resources such as fishing, farming, art and hospitality.
In all that we do, we aim to protect the natural environment around us—preserving the character and sustaining the future of this special place we call home.
To find out more information about this organization, go to www.capecdp.org.
