Mark A. Willis
Resident Research Fellow
Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy
New York University
Former Co-Chairman
Living Cities Board of Directors
(2002-2005)

I came to my first meeting of Living Cities (then the National Community Development Initiative, or NCDI) in the mid 1990s not quite knowing what to expect. The mission of raising funds to help take to scale the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and Enterprise Community Partners made sense to me given the critical roles these two national intermediaries were playing in the execution of New York City’s 10-Year Housing Plan. I was, though, curious as to Living Cities’ ability to tap the potential of the people and organizations around the table to enhance the field of community development. I was not disappointed.

Living Cities proved to be an organization that pushed the boundaries of community development. It constantly challenged both itself and the two intermediaries to use existing resources more effectively and to explore new and novel ways to rebuild and strengthen communities. It found ways to combine philanthropic and loan dollars more effectively and to use these resources to leverage other resources. It candidly faced the complexities inherent in community development and the lack of a short-term, magic bullet to achieve rapid transformation of either neighborhoods or the lives of those who live in them.

Over time, everyone at the Living Cities table grew to understand the importance of education, healthcare, job training and access, community facilities, and public safety as part of community development. Living Cities also struggled, as many of us have, to document progress and encourage private sector investment by being able to demonstrate that investing in inner city neighborhoods and in inner city residents is worthwhile and can be good business.

Also unexpected was the way Living Cities helped shape the evolution of LISC and Enterprise, the two largest, non-governmental intermediaries. Having them at the same table sparked some friendly competition and resulted in a cross fertilization which accelerated their ability to build their organizations and work effectively in their communities. Their regular presentations to the Living Cities Board of Directors provided us with valuable insights into what was happening at both the national and local levels, with the latter of particular interest for those of us directly engaged in cities served by their affiliates.