Tag: Judy Cody

Honoring Mel King

On March 14th 2019, the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) honored Mel King at its 40th anniversary celebration at the MIT Samberg Conference Center. King — a community organizer, former State Representative, and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning — crafted the state legislation that created CEDAC in 1978. CEDAC is a community development financial institution providing financing and technical assistance to community-based and other non-profit community development organizations in Massachusetts. In addition to Mel King, CEDAC was joined by DUSP Professors Emeriti, Langley Keyes and Tunney Lee, both of whom promoted and led state and local community development activities, including the visioning and creation of CEDAC.

The event’s main program was modeled on DUSP’s ‘lightning talks,’ three-minute presentations that communicate research and work in layperson language to promote sharing and collaboration across groups. The presentations focused on affordable housing preservation; supportive housing; and early education facility development. Speaker teams, composed of current and former CEDAC staff members as well as community partners, addressed the 40 years of engagement and evolution with these fields, future challenges, and the synergistic relationship for non-profits and the communities they represented. Many CEDAC staff members and leadership are DUSP alumni/ae, including Sara Barcan (MCP ’94), Janelle Chan (MCP ’07), and Roger Herzog (MCP ’87).

“Mel King provided the inspiration and vision for the community development movement, with his experiences 40 years ago fighting for community control of development. Mel’s role as an elected official in helping to create a state infrastructure to support community development, including CEDAC, was instrumental,” said Herzog, Executive Director of CEDAC. “The Massachusetts system serves as a national model of community development, and we are honored to have the opportunity to celebrate his contributions as we mark our 40th anniversary.”

The venue for the 40th anniversary event at MIT speaks to the Institute’s role as the space where the idea for a public/private agency that provides technical expertise to non-profit community development organizations was first discussed during the weekly sessions that King hosted for 25 years while teaching at DUSP and leading the MIT Community Fellows Program. These weekly sessions were called the Wednesday Morning Breakfast Group where King cooked breakfast and led discussions between community activists, planners, and students. A regular participant of the sessions, MIT doctoral student, Carl Sussman, became the founding Executive Director of CEDAC and later played a pivotal role launching and leading its affiliated organization, the Children’s Investment Fund, one of the few community development finance institutions across the nation focused exclusively on meeting the physical capital needs of early care and education programs.

The MIT Community Innovators Lab (CoLab), founded in 2007, is the direct MIT descendant of the Community Fellows Program. CoLab facilitates the interchange of knowledge/resources between MIT students and faculty with community organizations, to build practicable models of economic democracy and self-determination. CoLab’s Mel King Community Fellows Program (MKCF), provides participants with an opportunity to examine innovative approaches to development using markets as an arena for pursuing social justice.

“The CoLab’s Mel King Community Fellows Program embodies Mel King’s approach to planning and community development through his championing of cities and the communities that comprise those cities,” said Dayna Cunningham, Executive Director of CoLab and MIT Sloan Alumna (MBA ’04). “The MKCF honors Mel’s legacy by gathering current and future leaders of community-based work and providing them with the space to collaborate, learn, and refine their efforts for a range of social justice pursuits.”

In the 40 years since CEDAC was created, the organization has committed over $402 million in early stage project financing, and has helped to fund the creation or preservation of nearly 50,000 affordable housing units across the Commonwealth. Additionally, CEDAC manages a number of supportive housing bond programs on behalf of the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), with commitments of more than $490 million over the past thirty years. These bond programs include the Housing Innovations Fund (HIF), the Facilities Consolidation Fund (FCF), and the Community Based Housing (CBH) program.

To learn more about CEDAC’s mission and current projects, click here.

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SourceMIT Urban Planning News

CEDAC Honors Community Leader Mel King

The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) honored former State Representative Mel King at its 40th anniversary celebration, held on March 14 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Samberg Conference Center. King, a legendary community organizer, crafted the state legislation that created CEDAC in 1978. CEDAC is a community development financial institution that provides early stage financing and technical assistance to community-based and other non-profit organizations engaged in effective community development in Massachusetts.

“Mel King provided the inspiration and vision for the community development movement, with his experiences 40 years ago fighting for community control of development. Mel’s role as an elected official in helping to create a state infrastructure to support community development, including CEDAC, was instrumental. This Massachusetts system serves as a national model of community development, and we are honored to have the opportunity to celebrate his contributions as we mark our 40th anniversary,” said Roger Herzog, CEDAC’s executive director.

At the event, representatives from the state’s community development sector provided lightning talks on CEDAC’s three key program areas: affordable housing preservation; supportive housing; and the Children’s Investment Fund. Participants in the program included former CEDAC and Children’s Investment Fund staff members Vince O’Donnell, Charleen Regan, and Mav Pardee; current CEDAC staff members Bill Brauner, Sara Barcan, and Theresa Jordan; and non-profit community partners Leslie Reid of Madison Park Development Corporation, Lisette Le of Vietnamese American Initiative for Development (VietAID), and Gail Fortes of YWCA Southeastern Massachusetts. Governor Charlie Baker offered congratulatory remarks by video.

As a state representative, King sponsored the legislation that was signed by Governor Michael Dukakis and led to CEDAC’s creation in 1978. The venue for the 40th anniversary event at MIT was fitting, since the idea for a public/private agency that provides technical expertise to non-profit community development organizations was first discussed in weekly sessions that King hosted while teaching at MIT’s Department of Urban Planning and Studies and leading the Community Fellows Program there.

In the 40 years since CEDAC was created, the organization has committed over $402 million in early stage project financing, and has helped to fund the creation or preservation of nearly 50,000 affordable housing units across the Commonwealth. Additionally, CEDAC manages a number of supportive housing bond programs on behalf of the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), with commitments of more than $490 million over the past thirty years. These bond programs include the Housing Innovations Fund (HIF), the Facilities Consolidation Fund (FCF), and the Community Based Housing (CBH) program.

At the same event, the Children’s Investment Fund, an affiliate of CEDAC, presented Judy Cody, executive director of the Beverly Children’s Learning Center (BCLC), with the Mav Pardee Award for Building Quality. The award, which recognizes organizations or individuals working to address the need for physical environments that support high-quality early education, is named after Pardee, who was the Fund’s former program manager. Cody oversaw BCLC’s expansion to a new 16,000 square foot facility that provides safe and affordable early education and care for nearly 160 children in the North Shore region.

“BCLC was one of the first child care facilities to open that utilized grant funding from the Early Education and Out of School Time (EEOST) Capital Fund, and that is because of the tenacity and dedication that Judy Cody demonstrates as executive director,” said Theresa Jordan, Director of Children’s Facilities Finance. “Children’s Investment Fund is proud to honor Judy with the Mav Pardee Award for creating a high-quality early learning environment for low-income children.”

Since it was established in 1990, Children’s Investment Fund has committed $55 million in project financing and state bond resources, and supported the creation or improvement of more than 30,000 child care slots. EEOST is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care in partnership with CEDAC and the Children’s Investment Fund, and it offers child care providers capital resources to develop high-quality early learning facilities.

CEDAC is a Massachusetts community development financial institution that provides predevelopment and acquisition lending along with technical expertise for community-based and other non-profit organizations engaged in effective community development in Massachusetts. CEDAC’s work supports two key building blocks of community development: affordable housing and early education and care. CEDAC is also active in state and national housing preservation policy research and development and is widely recognized as a leader in the non-profit community development industry. For additional information on CEDAC and its current projects, please visit www.cedac.org.

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SourceSouth End News

Beverly Children’s Learning Center executive director honored

The Children’s Investment Fund, an affiliate of the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), presented Judy Cody, executive director of Beverly Children’s Learning Center (BCLC), with the Mav Pardee Award for Building Quality at CEDAC’s 40th anniversary celebration held on March 14 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The award recognizes organizations or individuals working to address the need for physical environments that support high-quality early education. Cody oversaw BCLC’s expansion to a new 16,000-square-foot facility that provides safe and affordable early education and care for nearly 250 children each year on the North Shore. At the same event, former State Rep. Mel King was honored.

King, a legendary community organizer, crafted the state legislation that created CEDAC in 1978. CEDAC is a community development financial institution that provides early stage financing and technical assistance to community-based and other non-profit organizations engaged in effective community development in Massachusetts.

In 2015, Cody led the first-ever capital campaign for Beverly Children’s Learning Center, raising over $2 million for a new state-of-the-art early education and childcare center in Beverly.

The campaign included $1 million grant funding from the Early Education and Out of School Time (EEOST) Capital Fund. EEOST is administered by the Department of Early Education and Care in coordination with CEDAC and the Children’s Investment Fund.

“BCLC was one of the first child care facilities to open that utilized grant funding from the Early Education and Out of School Time (EEOST) Capital Fund, and that is because of the tenacity and dedication that Judy Cody demonstrates as executive director,” said Theresa Jordan, Director of Children’s Facilities Finance at Children’s Investment Fund. “Children’s Investment Fund is proud to honor Judy with the Mav Pardee Award for creating a high-quality early learning environment.”

Founded in 1973, BCLC has served over 10,000 children and families in the Beverly area. Their new space has allowed them to dramatically improve their programs and services, providing individual environments conducive to high quality care, learning and security while allowing opportunities for intentional interaction among the different age groups they serve (newborn through early teen).

To maximize the impact of their new space, BCLC, under Cody’s leadership, will complete this spring the second phase of improvements with a new 25,000-square-foot natural outdoor learning play scape. The play scape includes a large array of natural interactive features designed to encourage more physical activity and creative play, including sensory gardens, mud kitchens, climbing hills and water stations.

BCLC will host a ribbon cutting for the play scape from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 16. For more information, visit www.bclckids.org or email info@bclckids.org.

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SourceWicked Local