Mayor Thomas Menino thanked community development corporation volunteers, employees and board members for their hard work, urging them to continue spreading their message in order to increase support for their causes Saturday at the first annual convention of Massachusetts Community Development Corporations (MACDC).
‘Let’s make sure we have programs so those who didn’t support us in the past will support us in the future,’ Menino told the approximately 550 representatives from 68 community development corporations throughout the commonwealth.
The convention gathered leaders from community organizations statewide in an attempt to send a message of unity to Massachusetts lawmakers and citizens, according to MACDC president Joseph Kriesberg.
‘We want individual CDCs to learn from each other and to gain empowerment and inspiration through the exchange of ideas,’ he said.
Kriesberg added that the convention sought to alert ‘the public and private sectors that there is an exciting movement in Massachusetts that doesn’t get the attention it should.’
Raising public awareness about CDCs and their work extends to fundraising, according to Kriesberg.
‘We want to push people to invest with us,’ Kriesberg said. ‘Now is not a time to take a step back. Investments in our field pay large dividends on a wide scale.’
MACDC Chairman Bob Van Meter of Allston-Brighton addressed the CDCs’ success as a statewide movement thus far and outlined meetings such as this one as an opportunity to broaden their success.
‘We make things happen every day, and I’m happy to see the vision we’ve all had growing in power and effectiveness in Massachusetts,’ Van Meter said. ‘We can strengthen our work by coming together; if we’re going to act together, we must build relationships.’
Leaders unveiled a two-year goal campaign for the organization, including enlisting the leadership of local residents, creating or improving low-income housing and helping residents begin or enlarge their own small businesses.
‘We need to collectively commit to these objectives,’ Van Meter said. ‘We’re diverse in many ways, but we’re united in our goals.’
Kriesberg said the strategy for accomplishing the goals includes ‘pushing CDCs to new levels of excellence and productivity.’
Representatives attended to share their stories and, more importantly, to learn from the experiences of others. Gavin McLear, a program manager at the Nuestra CDC in Dorchester, said he saw the convention as a valuable discussion forum.
‘I’m here to get a pulse of the larger standing of CDCs throughout the state,’ McLear said. ‘I’d like to see what smaller cities are doing, and if they are developing strategies we could implement as well.’
The meeting opened with a musical performance by children from the Fenway CDC youth group. Their motivational songs elicited a standing ovation from the audience.
Formed in 1982, the MACDC is a trade association representing community-based groups across the state. It advocates action on the part of both the public and private sectors and provides various training and support programs for individual CDCs, which focus on housing development, job preparation, small business growth and youth education.
The convention represented an expansion of the MACDC’s annual meeting, which is usually confined to board members and staff who are involved in the umbrella organization and does not historically include volunteers or participants of CDC programs.
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