Together, we're sharing best practices for building better communities.

The Purpose Built Communities Annual Conference is an extraordinary opportunity to convene with other Network Members and leading industry voices to discover new methodologies, lessons learned, innovative approaches, and overall best practices for holistic community revitalization.

The Purpose Built Communities Annual Conference is held each year in one of our Network Member cities, featuring a dynamic panel of speakers and one of the most diverse gatherings in community development.

The Purpose Built Communities Annual Conference provides a forum for everyone from our Network to gather for inspiration, knowledge sharing, fellowship, and support.

Watch 2020 Conference Video Presentations

The Network Member Community of Practice encourages modeling best practices for one another: See one. Do one. Share one.

The goal of Purpose Built Communities is to build a nationwide Network of like-minded groups that can assist one another in replicating successful revitalization efforts.

These Network Members support one another through ongoing interaction, shared resources, templates, best practices, and lessons learned. The Purpose Built Communities Annual Conference delivers the platform to develop and expand a collaborative spirit.

The conference is the perfect opportunity to catch up with what’s going on in the field... to hear first-hand from some of the best thought leaders who work in the field.
~ Shirley FranklinFORMER EXECUTIVE BOARD CHAIR, PURPOSE BUILT COMMUNITIES

"Every one of us are going to make mistakes, and every one of us are going to have successes. The more we interact together and learn from one another and connect with one another, the better chance we all have - individually and collectively - to be successful."

– Bill Barnet
Chairman of Northside Development Group
Spartanburg, SC

“It is one of the few conferences that you come away from feeling like you really learned something. You’re always pushed at this conference. There’s always something that kind of makes you rethink the way you look at an issue.”

– Othello H. Meadows III
Executive Director, Seventy-five North
Omaha, NE

“You not only listen, but interact and engage and say, ‘well, hey I notice that you said this, but here’s what I’m facing, have you ever faced that?’ Then (I’m) able to go right back and hit the ground with real solutions that I know have worked.”

– Michael Drane
Director, Avondale Meadows Academy
Indianapolis, IN

“You realize that the problems you have in your community are not unique to your community. You see other people – other organizations from across the country, literally from coast to coast. You get ideas and insights and information that will be very useful to you. Plus, you have a chance to analyze and compare what you’re doing with some of the best practices of other locations.”

– Rev. Carl Pointer
United Communities Association of South Fort Worth
Fort Worth, TX


Purpose Built Communities is supported by:

CF Foundation
Warren Buffett
Robertson Foundation
Ballmer Group
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Blue Meridian Partners
GA Power
JPM Chase
RWJF
Truist Foundation