Community development organizations have partnered with artists and culture bearers to take on a wide range of critical issues. The six organizations selected for the Community Development Investments program are very different from one another, but they share an interest in revitalizing the communities in which they are based, not just the properties they directly control. Three of the organizations are nonprofit housing developers, and though their roots and context are completely different, they share a common field of practice. Two are providers of health and wellness services committed to moving beyond medical care to improve the “upstream” community factors that determine so much of population health. One is a citywide park stewardship organization, redefining its scope and deepening its relationship to neighbors.

The arts and culture projects all six organizations embarked upon are collected in pages below, sorted by the equity issue they sought to tackle. Also here are links to descriptions of strategies to address key issues by other organizations with which PolicyLink has worked. We hope these projects inspire community developers to pursue their own arts-based strategies and partnerships.

Also included here is a link to “Transforming Community Development Through Arts and Culture,” the special issue of Community Development Innovation Review, the journal of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, devoted to the lessons for the field from CDI, with 25 articles and dialogues.