A. Dennis White
President & CEO
Metlife Foundation
Vice Chairman
Living Cities Board of Directors

I have been involved with Living Cities, originally known as the National Community Development Initiative (NCDI), almost since its inception and that affiliation has been rewarding on both a personal and professional level. The first few Living Cities meetings I attended in the early 1990s introduced me to a world of philanthropy that I didn’t know existed. I witnessed some of the biggest names in the field heatedly discussing community development issues and how to improve the quality of life in America’s cities.

After a few meetings I was hooked, and I’ve hung around for many years as programs have come and gone, institutions have left and rejoined Living Cities, and the staff and board have changed. Through all these evolutions, the passion and dedication to improving the lives of people living in low-income urban communities has remained strong and constant and that commitment has kept me and many others engaged in and supportive of Living Cities over these last twenty years.

One of the hallmarks of Living Cities has been its ability to bring institutions together to tackle tough community development issues. In the early years, the term “umbrella partnerships” was used to describe Living Cities’ convening role. I believe that function is even more critical today and one that Living Cities has gotten particularly good at. Recent boot camps and the Integration Initiative are just two good examples of Living Cities’ effective convening role. As I have watched Living Cities play this function, I have looked for similar opportunities in my work with MetLife Foundation where a strategic gathering can focus limited resources and direct activities toward a common goal.

During Living Cities’ 20-year history, it has also worked hard to combine various forms of capital—including private foundation grants, government funds and debt—in order to have a catalytic impact on community development. Early on, the delivery of Living Cities’ capital was somewhat fragmented, and while all resources were used to advance local community work plans, it wasn’t until more recently, through the Integration Initiative, that a tighter and more disciplined combination of all capital resources was designed and deployed. The outcome of the Integration Initiative is yet unknown but I believe Living Cities’ work in this area will be a solid contribution to the community development finance field.

Finally, throughout my association with Living Cities, the most valuable and enjoyable experience has been listening to the insights of members and learning about the great work of the many groups that have come into Living Cities’ orbit over the years. In particular, the work of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and Enterprise Community Partners, Living Cities’ key partners over much of its early history, has often been instructional and has provided good insights that Living Cities and other groups have benefited from in their community development work today.