“Teamwork makes the dream work.” Mel King, legendary community activist and former state representative, invoked this phrase as he concluded his remarks at our 40th anniversary celebration on March 14th.  And Mel did not just speak these words, but rather inspired the audience to chant them together with him.  This phrase sums up his philosophy on community develo...

CEDAC is proud to celebrate 40 years of strengthening communities across the Commonwealth. We are thrilled to announce that we will honor former State Representative Mel King as we commemorate this anniversary this month. As a Massachusetts State Representative, Mel King sponsored legislation in 1978 which created CEDAC with a mission to support community-based developme...

The Facilities Consolidation Fund (FCF) is an important capital program that provides funding to build supportive housing for persons with chronic mental illness or developmental disabilities.   This program is managed through interagency collaboration among the Departments of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), Mental Health (DMH), Developmental Services (DDS), an...

The Department of Mental Health (DMH) embraces a community-based approach to treatment and recovery from mental illness, which focuses on the question of how individuals can have more active control over their lives and thrive in their respective communities. DMH’s mission “assures and provides access to services and supports to meet the mental health needs of individu...

It’s hard to believe but CEDAC’s blog, INSITES, turns one year old this week.  We’ve been astounded by the positive response we’ve received from so many who are regular readers of the blog.  So thank you all for supporting us! First, we wanted to share where the name INSITES came from.  More than a year ago, when we were in the process of developing the blog,...

In today’s blog post, we share a paper written by Bill Brauner, Director of Housing Preservation & Policy at CEDAC, that takes an in-depth look into extremely low income renters in America’s central cities.  The paper explores the importance of affordable housing production and preservation policies and highlights the success of a few cities, led by Boston. CED...

On July 25th, Governor Charlie Baker, joined by Housing and Community Development Undersecretary - and CEDAC board chair - Janelle Chan, announced state funding awards in the 2018 Rental Housing funding competition.  The Governor awarded a total of $33.5 million in state and federal tax credits and $57 million in federal HOME and state bond resources to 19 affordable hous...

As CEDAC celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, we are excited to also celebrate several milestone work anniversaries of our dedicated, hardworking team. Today, we hear from two CEDAC staff members: Bill Brauner, Director of Housing Preservation & Policy, and Carolyn Williams, Finance & HR Manager, as they each reflect on their 15 years contributing to CEDAC's ...

In 2016, CEDAC was awarded $180,000 of funding by the Kuehn Charitable Foundation (KCF) to establish a new planning grant program to help the non-profit community development sector across Massachusetts. Last year, KCF committed a second grant to CEDAC in the same amount. Named for the foundation’s creator Robert H. Kuehn, Jr., the Kuehn Planning Grants help non-profit o...

Massachusetts is fortunate in that over the last several decades, the Commonwealth has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to community development in a bipartisan way. On Thursday, May 31st, we saw the most recent example of this support when Governor Charlie Baker signed the $1.8 billion Housing Bond Bill into law. The bill will allow for new capital spending on affor...