On March 7, 2024, Purpose Built hosted the second annual network-wide Hill Day in the heart of Washington, D.C. This extraordinary event brought together our Network Members on Capitol Hill to engage with congressional leaders and the office of the Vice President. … Continue Reading →
In this conversation, Logan Herring, Sr. talks to Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) about support for programs at the federal and local levels that help the work of community developers like the Purpose Built Communities Network. This conversation took place at the virtual Purpose Built Communities Annual Conference on November 17, 2020. Watch
We are actually solving the problems that we've been wanting to solve for a long time and thinking innovatively and not looking at barriers so much anymore. Hear more about how Woodlawn Foundation is serving as the stable force in a historic Birmingham, Alabama neighborhood amidst the pandemic, convening community partners to help them pivot and adjust. Listen
This [community development] work does not happen unless you're working in partnership. Being proximate and cultivating relationships is difficult to do when everyone is intentionally distancing from each other to support public health. Hear how Network Member AmplifyGR in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is cultivating relationships—even amidst crisis—with for nonprofit and for-profit organizations, aligning around a common purpose to create a healthier community. Listen
Building from a rich history, community quarterback AmplifyGR is driving change with a holistic approach to neighborhood revitalization. Working in partnership with residents and a host of organizations, AmplifyGR is focused on cradle-to-college education opportunities, community wellbeing resources, mixed-income housing and economic development. Watch this great video to get to know this community and meet some of the people who are working to make it stronger than ever. Watch
At the 10th Annual Conference of Purpose Built Communities, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s President and CEO, Dr. Richard E. Besser, announced an investment of $6 million to advance the work of the Purpose Built Communities Network. Purpose Built Communities is a dynamic nonprofit that is building a national network with the goal of empowering … Continue Reading →
It’s been a convenient diversion from the truth that’s been told since Reconstruction - that the segregation we’ve seen and continue to see in America is just the effects of private individual biases and incidents of discrimination, rather than codified in law. But, when we look at the facts, that myth breaks down pretty quickly with the abundant examples of policies in local, state, and federal government across the country that explicitly discriminated against African Americans.
In this bonus episode, Richard Rothstein and Shirley Franklin, former Executive Board Chair of Purpose Built Communities discuss the history and myth of de facto segregation in America - and what it will take to reverse the toxic effects of that history. Listen
A community of partners came together in 2019 to break ground for the KIPP Woodson Park Academy, a YMCA Early Learning Center and a school-based health clinic. This historic, $51 million investment in the Grove Park neighborhood represents the first major step in a series of investments in the health, arts and affordability in the Grove Park neighborhood intended to boost health, equity, affordability, and economic mobility. As part of this new campus, the YMCA of Metro Atlanta is investing in both the education and the health of the neighborhood by building a new early learning center that will serve 65-90 students ages 0-6. A co-located, school-based health care center, funded by both the YMCA and Grove Park Foundation, will ensure that the children served on the campus and their families receive critical services that will support their ability to achieve their highest potential. … Continue Reading →
Warren Buffett has been called a wizard, an oracle, a sage - a wise and prophetic investor who knows value when he sees it. In this last episode of Season Two, Warren Buffett sat down with CNBC's Becky Quick in Omaha in 2017 to talk about how America's systems fundamentally misdirect money into the hands of too few to the detriment of the many. He called on philanthropists looking to have the biggest impact for their investments to shed their pretensions and one-upsmanship and look where things are working to attack at the root of the problem. Listen
Building racial, social and health equity in communities of concentrated poverty is not an unrealistic dream - it's happening in real-time across the Purpose Built Communities network. A group of thoughtful leaders from diverse backgrounds in different cities have moved from talking to leading with equity.
Michelle Matthews, Senior Vice President at Purpose Built Communities, moderated a discussion in Orlando in 2018 with the first cohort of Equity Ambassadors - Kia Baker of the Southeast Raleigh Promise, Kirk Wester of Growing Together in Tulsa, Danny Shoy of the East Lake Foundation in Atlanta, and Sally Mackin of Woodlawn United in Birmingham. Listen
