When CEDAC was first created in 1978, the community development sector was in its infancy and there was no roadmap as to how an agency like ours was going to work. But over the past 40 years, CEDAC has become a unique source of technical assistance and early stage capital for non-profit affordable housing developers and child care providers. In this timeline, you will see the evolution of programs and services that have supported the growth of this sector, including key dates, projects, and milestones. And you will also find some interesting data points about the impact of our work.
Community activists organize successfully to block plans to build Interstate Highway 95 through Jamaica Plain, Roxbury and the South End, and give birth to the early community development movement.
Pre-78
State Representative Mel King sponsors and shepherds legislation that creates CEDAC. Governor Michael Dukakis signs House 5681 "An Act Establishing the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation."
1978
Carl Sussman is hired as CEDAC's first Executive Director. The Board of Directors targets CEDAC resources to job-generating venture development activities. CEDAC's work is focused on partnering with community development corporations (CDCs) to start, expand and preserve business enterprises that create opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents.
1979
CEDAC awards its first technical assistance (TA) grant to Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation to start an energy audit and retrofit business. CEDAC also awards a pilot TA grant for housing development to La Alianza Hispana for the renovation of 26 rental units and commercial spaces in Boston.
1979-1980
Based on success of pilot project, CEDAC Board approves the creation of a development assistance program for affordable housing which provides strategic consulting and unsecured high-risk capital for predevelopment expenses.
1982
With growing concern about the large stock of HUD-owned, distressed multi-family properties in Boston, CEDAC supports CHAPA's task force to initiate a demonstration preservation program. CEDAC's board approves assistance to Methunion Manor Tenants Council, our first effort to support resident action to preserve one of these HUD properties.
1983
Throughout the 1980s, CEDAC works with Lowell-based CDC, Coalition for a Better Acre, and project residents to preserve North Canal Apartments. CEDAC provides technical assistance and predevelopment funds to maintain affordability of the expiring use property in Lowell.
1984
Interest-free predevelopment loans begin to replace prior Recoverable TA Grants. EOCD Secretary Amy S. Anthony commits $300,000 to create pilot program administered by CEDAC.
1985Massachusetts Housing Partnership capitalizes a $3.5 million loan pool that CEDAC manages, allowing CEDAC to offer more predevelopment funding resources to providers.
1986
The passage of the Housing Bond Bill leads to the creation of the first supportive housing bond program, the Housing Innovations Fund (HIF).
1987
CEDAC agrees to provide underwriting and loan management services for HIF on behalf of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The first HIF loan is committed to Fenway CDC for the Kilmarnock Street Project.
United Way of Massachusetts Bay creates Children's Investment Fund (fka Child Care Capital Investment Fund) as a 5-year pilot program with capitalization from the Ford Foundation and other local foundations.
1990
CEDAC offers TA to residents at the 500-unit Clarendon Hill Towers in Somerville, culminating in one of the first preservation acquisitions by the tenant association. CEDAC’s training and TA services in coming years have preserved thousands of units through sales to non-profit and resident organizations.
CEDAC begins to provide technical assistance to residents and non-profit community developers with funding provided by the City's Department of Neighborhood Development on strategies to preserve the large stock of federally- and state-assisted expiring use projects. This effective relationship has continued for nearly thirty years, and resulted in strong preservation outcomes.
1991
CEDAC creates a database of expiring use properties to monitor potential loss of affordable housing units in Massachusetts. This database now tracks the affordability status of about 1,600 projects comprising over 135,000 housing units in Massachusetts.
A second supportive housing program, FCF, is established in the Housing Bond Bill. FCF provides funding for housing units for clients of the Department of Mental Health (DMH) and the Department of Developmental Services (DDS). CEDAC underwrites and manages FCF on behalf of DHCD.
1993
Long-time senior staffer Mike Gondek becomes CEDAC's second Executive Director.
1994CEDAC approves initial predevelopment commitment to Community Development Partnership (fka Lower Cape Cod CDC) for the new construction of 12 units of low-income rental housing in the Cape Cod community of Wellfleet.
CEDAC's 2-phased Community Economic Development Capacity Building Initiative (1995-1998) is developed with Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC) and other partners. The initiative will eventually lead to the creation of the Commonwealth Workforce Coalition (CWC).
1995CEDAC launches new loan program developed jointly with Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) and Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC). CEDAC commits over $5 million in acquisition loans in the first year, helping developers purchase development sites or existing buildings. The acquisition lending program has committed nearly $230 million to 170 projects since inception.
1997
HMLP provides no interest loans to modify and improve accessibility in the homes of adults and children with disabilities. CEDAC co-administers the program with the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission and six regional non-profit housing organizations.
1999
CEDAC makes its first loan commitment to Way Finders' Butternut Farm project in Amherst. The project faces several years of delays due to zoning litigation. The development will eventually open in 2011, bringing 26 new units of family housing to Western Massachusetts.
2000
CIF holds its first Building Stronger Centers Training Institute, an intensive multi-day training that gives child care providers insights into renovating or building high-quality child care facilities.
2001
Working with Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), which serves the Latino community, CEDAC and CIF fund a new facility for Escuelita Boriken, IBA's bilingual child care program in Boston’s South End neighborhood.
Housing Bond Bill includes amendments to CEDAC's enabling statute that allows broadened support for low- and moderate-income housing efforts, expanding the geography outside of former "target" areas to support affordable housing development in high opportunity communities.
2002A third supportive housing bond program, CBH, provides funding for the development of integrated housing for people with disabilities. CEDAC underwrites and manages the funding on behalf of DHCD.
CEDAC provides its first Home Funders loan, which pools private philanthropic dollars to make low-interest loans to build affordable housing for formerly homeless families. CEDAC lends $1.5 million to Urban Edge to the 89-95 Amory Street project in Jamaica Plain.
2003
CEDAC's program focusing on workforce development, CWC, holds its first Sharing Skills~Building Connections conference, which provides professional training for the workforce development sector.
2004
CEDAC works with the Neighborhood Developers and others on visionary redevelopment of former blighted industrial area along Gerrish Avenue, the Box District, in Chelsea. Several development projects provide mixed income and mixed tenure housing and commercial uses near transit and steps from city hall.
2005In an effort to redevelop Jackson Square, one of the Boston neighborhoods negatively impacted by the attempt to build the highway in the 1960s, CEDAC joins a consortium of local lenders for the Jackson Square Initiative. In a sign of the growth of CDCs, this large-scale urban redevelopment initiative is undertaken by a joint venture between two local CDCs and a private developer.
2006
Long-time staffer Roger Herzog becomes CEDAC's third Executive Director.
2008
CIF commits predevelopment funding for Nurtury, an innovative, state-of-the-art child care center located in a public housing development in Jamaica Plain.
In an effort to assist Gloucester to complete the redevelopment of the former LePage industrial site, CEDAC brings in a new non-profit developer, the Caleb Group, to develop the final phase known as Pond View Apartments following years of delays.
The Commonwealth enacts Chapter 40T, a landmark law that has given the state important tools to preserve affordable housing units throughout Massachusetts.
2009The MacArthur Foundation awards CEDAC and DHCD a $1 million Windows of Opportunity grant and a $3 million program-related investment to support a state initiative on affordable housing preservation.
CEDAC works with social service agency DIAL/SELF and its nonprofit real estate development partner Rural Development Inc. to develop supportive housing for homeless youth in Orange.
Working with Main South CDC and others in Worcester, CEDAC focuses on the redevelopment of Kilby Gardner Hammond, a phased initiative in a neighborhood in need of reinvestment.
2010
CIF provides funding for a natural playground at the Crispus Attucks Children's Center in Dorchester. The playground, which incorporates natural elements, helps children in Dorchester meet their daily 60 minutes of physical activity for better health and brain development.
Homeowner's Rehab Inc. purchases Chapman Arms in Cambridge, the first development to be preserved through Chapter 40T and its rights of first offer and refusal.
2011Following passage of the Community Housing and Services Act, 18 state agencies sign a Memorandum of Understanding that launches the Interagency Supportive Housing Working Group. The working group focuses on improving state agency coordination and increasing production of supportive housing.
2012
Housing Bond Bill passes that establishes the Early Education and Out of School (EEOST) Capital Fund, a bond program that provides capital funding for child care facilities. EEOST is the first child care fund to be created as part of community development legislation. CEDAC and CIF co-manage EEOST with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC).
2013
CEDAC commits its initial predevelopment loan to the New England Center and Home for Veterans to construct and improve 96 units of supportive housing in Boston for homeless veterans.
The state creates Housing Preservation and Stabilization Trust Fund (HPSTF) to accelerate the production of supportive housing. House of Hope's project New Hope II in Lowell, which opens in September 2014, is the first project to receive funding through the program.
2014
Through the Interagency Working Group's efforts, Massachusetts is able to meet its goal of producing 1,000 new units of supportive housing two years ahead of schedule.
CEDAC commits acquisition and predevelopment loans to Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) to produce affordable housing in a mixed-use development in Somerville's Union Square, near the proposed Green Line expansion.
2015
The Beverly Children’s Learning Center (BCLC), one of the first child care facilities utilizing funding from the Early Education and Out of School Time (EEOST) Capital Fund, celebrates its grand opening. The site provides high-quality early education and care for up to 163 children.
Founding partner CEDAC transitions the CWC program to UMass Boston's Center for Social Policy and continues to support the Sharing Skills~Building Connections Conference.
2017
Working with non-profit partners Valley CDC and Way Finders, CEDAC helps to transform the gateway into Northampton by funding two important mixed-income, mixed-use projects along the Pleasant Street Corridor.
Governor Charlie Baker and the Massachusetts Legislature enact a $1.8 billion Housing Bond Bill, the largest in the Commonwealth's history. The Bond Bill allows for new capital spending on affordable housing production and preservation in cities and towns across Massachusetts. Additionally, it provides renewed funding for CEDAC-managed supportive housing programs, the EEOST Capital Fund and the Home Modification Loan Program.
2018
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund certifies CIF as a CDFI. This certification enables CIF to apply for federal funding to increase low-cost lending capital for early childhood education (ECE) and out-of-school time (OST) facility improvements throughout the Commonwealth. CIF is also awarded $300,000 from the CDFI Fund in its first application for federal funding the same year it receives this certification.
CEDAC celebrates its 40th anniversary and its positive contributions to community development, highlighting its strong support of affordable housing development and preservation, child care facility development, and the many neighborhoods it has strengthened throughout Massachusetts.
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