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Despite some differences in geography, history, political structure, and demographics, the United States and Australia share common ground in many areas, like the need for sustainable metropolitan growth, fair development, and racial and economic equity. Recognizing an affordable housing challenge similar to that of the United States, leaders in Brisbane (Australia’s third largest city), have endorsed an inclusionary zoning proposal inspired in part by plans in New York and other American municipalities. Kathy Richardson of Our Community, a national gateway organization for Australia’s 700,000 community groups and schools, reports on the fifth annual convening of Australia’s largest community conference:

Inspiration met implementation as 1500 delegates from across Australia and New Zealand came together for the fifth annual Communities in Control conference in Melbourne, Australia, on June 5 and 6.

PolicyLink Founder and CEO Angela Glover Blackwell was the inspirational keynote speaker at Communities in Control 2007— Australia’s largest annual gathering of community sector workers, volunteers, and supporters.

Angela Glover Blackwell inspired, stimulated, and provoked community group, government, and business delegates to understand that communities have knowledge, wisdom, and on-the-ground experience that must shape policy frameworks at every level of government—local, state, and federal. Policy developed in vacuums without community, she said, will never address the issues of equitable development.

Since it was first held in 2003, Communities in Control has morphed from a conference into a movement, one which allows those who believe in the power of community to lift their gaze from the daily grind and come together to hear the latest community sector research and developments, to be challenged, and to find ways forward in their own work, and for the sector as a whole.

At the heart of the conference lies a conscious decision to sidestep some of the more abstract notions surrounding the capacity-building agenda and to kickstart a new practical agenda, encapsulated in a Community Manifesto, which aims to start moving community groups around Australia towards a common agenda.

The Manifesto and the conference which stimulated its birth are designed to help community groups, and those that value their worth, to connect the dots between the society we have and the vision of the society we wish to see, an aim that echoes the work of PolicyLink.

Delegates at this year’s conference delighted in the words of Angela Glover Blackwell, who demonstrated in her address how community groups must and can advocate to ensure individual cases of success do not become “islands of excellence,” but can instead be translated into policy for whole localities, states, or nations.

Community organizations have to be at the vanguard of advocacy, she said, with the resulting policy, the vehicle for sustained results, and a more socially and economically equitable future.

Communities in Control is convened by Australia’s leading social enterprise Our Community, which provides training, advice, and tools for the community sector, and works to provide practical linkages between the community sector and the general public, business, and government.

For more information about Communities in Control 2007, go to www.ourcommunity.com.au/cic.

To view a transcript of Angela Glover Blackwell’s speech, visit http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/files/cic/2007/AngelaGloverBlackwell.pdf

A region built on equity makes everyone stronger; that’s the message of a new report that proposes strategies to reinvigorate Cleveland and its suburbs.

The President’s Council—an organization of leaders from some of the largest African American-owned and operated businesses in the Cleveland area—commissioned the African American Forum on Race and Regionalism (AAFRR) to explore how regional equity policies could strengthen both Greater Cleveland’s black community as well as the health of the entire region. AAFRR co-chairs Angela Glover Blackwell of PolicyLink, Robert Bullard of the Environmental Justice Resource Center, and john a. powell of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity led in-depth research that both analyzed the Cleveland metropolitan region and informed detailed policy strategies for leveraging the physical assets and human capital of Cleveland and its suburbs.

Two years in the making, the report, Regionalism: Growing Together to Expand Opportunity to All, shows how and why equity must be seen as a cornerstone—not a stumbling block—in regional planning. By uniting communities with opportunity—through better education, transportation, housing and economic investment—the entire Cleveland region can be more prosperous, healthy, and just.

On June 20, the AAFRR co-chairs joined the President’s Council, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, and others for a daylong series of report launch events, which culminated in a briefing and reception with 300 community, civic, and business leaders. The Plain Dealer covered the report both before and after the release, and AAFRR co-chair powell appeared on local public radio station WCPN to discuss race and regionalism.

To download the full 303-page version of the Cleveland report, click here; for the executive summary, click here.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed more than 200,000 homes and left people of all races and incomes picking up the pieces.

While homeowners are facing their own set of challenges getting back home, many renters face an equally daunting reality. More than 82,000 rental units were damaged or destroyed in the storms—but only 33,000 affordable rental units are on track to be rebuilt, according to Bringing Louisiana Renters Home: An Evaluation of the 2006-2007 Gulf Opportunity Zone Rental Housing Restoration Program, a new report by PolicyLink.

If all of those promised rental units materialize, barely two out of five Louisiana families who relied on rental housing before the storms will have the option of returning to an affordable home. In the New Orleans metro region—where renters have faced rent increases of up to 200 percent since the storms—every affordable rental home will be critical. As Katrina’s two-year anniversary approaches, virtually all of the 44,000 people still in FEMA trailers or living far-from-home on FEMA rent subsidies are former renters.

Without more federal resources to create adequate and affordable rental housing in the state, the Louisiana's workforce backbone—teachers and nurses, barbers and clergy members, waiters and child care workers—will find it nearly impossible to return. “It's a double tragedy that so many of the Gulf's families are still displaced,” said Kalima Rose, director of the PolicyLink Louisiana Initiative and co-author of the report. “The people cannot benefit from the recovery. And the Gulf Coast's economy will not be able to come back if the people who make its economy run cannot first come back.”

While the state has done a good job overall at moving the rental restoration programs forward in a timely way, the rental crisis remains particularly stark for the state's lowest-income residents. There is a tremendous shortfall in rental units targeted at those making less than 50 percent of the Area Median Income (about $26,000 statewide). Of the 9,500 rental units promised for this group in the Road Home plan, less than half—4,650—are funded so far. “We're at a critical moment in tackling the rental housing crisis,” said PolicyLink Research Associate Annie Clark, co-author of the report. “By ensuring everyone—including renters—has a chance to come back home, we will make a stronger Louisiana.”

Legislation currently under consideration in Congress could dramatically help the ongoing rental crisis.

To make a real, long-term impact on the rental crisis, policymakers must:

• Pass HR 1227 in Congress to restore more rental housing

• Ensure the remaining Road Home Piggyback funds and Small Rental Property Owner program funds rebuild rental housing

• Encourage affordable rental housing to be built near services, schools, jobs, and public transportation and guide more rebuilding money to nonprofit and developers of affordable special needs housing with proven track records of serving the needs of vulnerable families

• Fulfill the pledge to permanent supportive housing

• Engage all levels of local, state, and federal government to create complementary and equitable housing policies

The release of Bringing Louisiana Renters Home was covered in the New Orleans Times Picayune, Louisiana Weekly, and New Orleans City Business. The report was greatly informed by the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency and numerous local, state, and national researchers and advocates whose expertise and input were invaluable. To view a full list of acknowledgements and to download a copy of the report in PDF, visit: http://www.policylink.org/documents/LRHC.pdf.

After the release of the bestselling Covenant with Black America and Covenant in Action books in 2006 and 2007, excitement continues to build around the Covenant’s grassroots call to promote economic and social equity for African Americans through policy, advocacy, and community building.

On Thursday, June 28, 2007, Tavis Smiley will moderate an All American Presidential Forum on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. The forum will be broadcast live in primetime on PBS, from 9:00-10:30 pm EST. Along with Tavis, three journalists of color will pose questions to the Democratic presidential candidates regarding the Covenant with Black America and other domestic issues. Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson will take part in this provocative discussion. The candidates will be asked to address issues ranging from education, the economy and healthcare, to Katrina relief, housing, and the environment, among other issues outlined in the Covenant with Black America.

PolicyLink Founder and CEO Angela Glover Blackwell will provide a post-forum analysis on the Covenant with Black America website, beginning Friday June 29. You may join the post-forum conversation by participating on the Covenant blog. A Republican Presidential Forum will follow on September 27, 2007, on the campus of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. Please visit the Tavis Smiley site for more information.

Earlier in the day on Thursday, foundation executives and nonprofit leaders will meet in Arlington, Virginia at the National Center for Black Philanthropy conference to discuss the application of The Covenant with Black America to the philanthropic sector. Julianne Malveaux will moderate a discussion with Angela Glover Blackwell, Sherece West of the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, Rev. Calvin Butts, Council on Foundations CEO Steve Gunderson, and other distinguished leaders; the discussion will help set the stage for an upcoming “Philanthropic Covenant with Black America” book that will explore the ways strategic grantmaking, fundraising, individual giving, and other aspects of philanthropy can be better leveraged to strengthen the black community. 

Both the Oakland and the New York offices of PolicyLink have recently moved. Our new addresses are:

1438 Webster Street, Suite 303, Oakland, CA 94612

55 West 39th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018