Resources & Publications

Here, you’ll find a wealth of knowledge—reports, case studies, toolkits, and more.

ResourceDescriptionTopicSource
Purpose Built Theory of ImpactRead about what Purpose Built Communities believes, the challenges we seek to address, the approach we take to address these challenges, and the impact we seek to create. Purpose Built FrameworksPurpose Built
Purpose Built Racial Equity PhilosophyRacial equity is central to and inseparable from Purpose Built’s work. By strategically addressing inequity and racism, we’re able to institute policies and processes that mitigate bias, and create equity champions.Purpose Built FrameworksPurpose Built
Where We Thrive – Narrative BriefCommunicating about Resident-Centered Neighborhood RevitalizationNarrative & Communications, Placed-Based Field LeadershipPurpose Built
Where We Thrive – Communications ToolkitStrategies for Advocates Communicating About Resident-Centered Neighborhood RevitalizationNarrative & Communications, Placed-Based Field LeadershipPurpose Built
Where We Thrive – Methods and DataA description of research methods and supporting data, offered in supplement to the Where We Thrive Narrative BriefData & Research, Narrative & Communications, Placed-Based Field LeadershipPurpose Built
Value and Impact of the Purpose Built Community of Practice: 2019-2021This paper — intended for Purpose Built Communities staff, supporters, partners and Network Members — articulates Purpose Built’s successful and compelling journey to adopt and implement a CoP strategy. Specifically, the paper describes the Purpose Built CoP startup process, the status of the Purpose Built CoP as of early 2021 and success factors to date.Community of Practice, Data & Research, PartnershipsPurpose Built
Poverty and Place: A Review of the Science and Research That Have Impacted Our WorkThis white paper offers an overview of selected research that has informed our thinking as we continue to fight against intergenerational urban poverty.Data & ResearchPurpose Built
Transforming East Lake: A Case Study by America’s Promise AllianceWhat’s the secret behind East Lake’s turnaround? Can lessons from East Lake guide comprehensive efforts at neighborhood transformation in other communities? Through interviews with more than 20 key participants, reviews of historical and current documents, and an examination of existing research about neighborhood revitalization, this in-depth case study by America’s Promise Alliance explores those questions and illuminates East Lake’s storyData & ResearchAmerica's Promise Alliance
Communicating about Intergenerational Urban Poverty and Race in America: Challenges, Opportunities, and Emerging RecommendationsThis brief summarizes key findings from research on public perceptions of intergenerational urban poverty and race in America. It is part of a broader project that the FrameWorks Institute is conducting with support from and in partnership with Purpose Built Communities to develop strategies to communicate about urban poverty in ways that build support for racial equity and place-based solutions to end intergenerational poverty.Narrative & CommunicationsFrameworks
The Geography of Upward Mobility in the United StatesRaj Chetty, the Bloomberg Professor of Economics and a leading scholar on opportunity and intergenerational mobility, presented his latest research on how where one grows up has a huge impact on success later in life.Data & ResearchBrookings Institution
Segregated By Design‘Segregated By Design’ examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy.Data & ResearchSilkworm Studio
Friendship and Economic MobilityDrawing on a massive dataset, comprising the social networks of 72.2 million users of Facebook aged between 25 and 44 years, Chetty and his team are able to assess how far social networks influence economic mobility.Data & ResearchBrookings Institution
Exploring Equity in Community DevelopmentA group of thoughtful leaders from diverse backgrounds in different cities have moved from talking to leading with equity. This blog post showcases the Purpose Built Communities’ Equity Ambassadors, a group of executive directors from around our national network who are doing the hard work of addressing racial equity within their communities.Racial Equity & JusticePurpose Built
America Thrives When Neighborhoods ThriveConcentrated urban poverty in America is largely the result of public policy that enshrined institutional racism into the very fabric of our cities. Carol Naughton and Shirley Franklin discuss how a holistic neighborhood approach can disrupt poverty and build health and equity in neighborhoods.Data & ResearchHuffPost
Data Show Neighborhoods Matter in Most Powerful Way YetAn article in New York Times provides in-depth coverage of a breakthrough study by the Equality of Opportunity Project that makes the case we at Purpose Built Communities have been making for years – neighborhoods matter. Some key quotes from the article: How neighborhoods affect children “has been a quandary with which social science has been grappling for decades,” said David B. Grusky, director of the Center on Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University, who was not involved in the research. “This delivers the most compelling evidence yet that neighborhoods matter in a really big way.”Data & ResearchThe New York Times
Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Harms Disadvantaged NeighborhoodsCriminologist Todd Clear explains how over incarceration impoverishes communities, straps municipal budgets and fails to deter criminal behavior.Data & Research, Racial Equity & JusticePurpose Built
Case Study on Focused Community Strategies’ Rotational Capital FundThe Focused Community Strategies (FCS) Rotational Capital Fund is a single-family homeownership financing tool, enabling FCS to acquire, stabilize, and sell over 100 homes to existing residents and new neighbors since its launch, with 30 additional properties under development. Atlanta / Focused Community StrategiesFocused Community Strategies
Purpose Built Communities

We are excited to reveal our new brand identity! Our new brand is the next chapter in a story about increasing economic mobility, better health outcomes, and racial equity by harnessing neighborhoods as powerful engines of change.

In our new logo, you see the blocks of a city grid or an interwoven tapestry of bold and vivid colors. It symbolizes both where we work and how we work. Purpose Built supports over 70 neighborhoods—including more than 25 Network Members—creating an interconnected collective of leaders strengthening neighborhoods so everyone can thrive.

This new brand identity is more than a logo. It is a framework for telling the Purpose Built Communities story and an invitation to join our mission of creating pathways to prosperity for residents in the places they call home.