We’re going to take a ride down one of the country’s storied roadways to take a look at some of the organizations that are helping to preserve history and strengthen the future. From Chicago to Santa Monica, Route 66 reflects the challenges facing American communities today. Most places along the highway have seen ups and downs, and many have extraordinary people with important stories to be told.

How do community developers whose goals include neighborhood revitalization identify which businesses or other non-residential tenants (library, healthcare center) are likely to create the most positive momentum in a given area? It’s certainly more art than science. We asked a few long-time community developers for their thoughts.

We’re not the only 36-year-old in town. Here is a small sampling of other 36th birthdays taking place this year:

We’re going to take a ride down one of the country’s storied roadways to take a look at some of the organizations that are helping to preserve history and strengthen the future. From Chicago to Santa Monica, Route 66 reflects the challenges facing American communities today. Most places along the highway have seen ups and downs, and many have extraordinary people with important stories to be told.

We’ve seen and written a lot about what happens in our communities. In many cases, our writers were prescient in their analysis as they warned of the potential (and often real) community fallout from predatory lending and misguided housing policy.

Can you guess when this Shelterforce quote ran? “As hard times continue to plague most American families, the problem of mortgage foreclosures has intensified … Many families have lost their homes—victims of unscrupulous mortgage bankers, lenders, and real estate con artists.”

Can you guess which president this refers to? “The president has decided that the future of our cities depends on business and that government’s role is to sweeten the pot for private investors.”

Get deja vu—and also see how far we’ve come—-with quotes from 36 years of Shelterforce.

The federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program is a welcome source of funds in struggling communities, and it has had a massive effect on the nature of the response to the problem of vacant foreclosed property. As NSP3 gets underway and the NSP1 obligation period comes to a close, Shelterforce looks back at NSP so far.

In written testimony submitted to the House Committee on Financial Services in May, excerpted here, a group of urban affairs academics argue that PETRA is nothing less than a formal divestment from public housing, worse than anything previous administrations have proposed.

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Organizations