A diverse national network of government & non profit champions who support an incremental, team-based approach, powered by neighborhood-focused entrepreneurs, to strengthen their towns and cities with 
                 Small-Scale Development

that generates

Big local wealth
Big local tax base
Big community benefits

Why?

Every community already has some small-scale developers:

✔ the couple renovating a duplex.
✔ the family adding an attached suite to their home for an aging parent.
✔ an elderly large home owner making a rentable suite for additional income.
✔ the rehabbers of a four-unit apartment building building long term wealth. 
✔ the conversion of an obsolete commercial building into a small office and couple of apartments.
✔ a business owner adapting an old building into live-work space.
✔ new construction of small infill buildings by local entrepreneur small developers.

It’s possible to organize your public and nonprofit sectors  to find, mobilize and grow more of these.

Where?

The small-scale spectrum of buildings once found in every American neighborhood and can be built by neighborhood-focused, entrepreneurial, small-scale developers today.

How?

Speed to more development depends on how comprehensive and systematic this all can be managed.

By aligning private sector small developers with public and nonprofit sector actors you can optimize local results.  

That work involves:

 

    • Supporting small developers through education, organizing, and
      expediting their individual projects
    • Improving government processes in planning, zoning, permitting, and
      development 
    • Making connections to the many “communities of place” around projects

Speed to more development depends on how comprehensive and systematic this all can be managed.

 

Who Else?

Champions for small-scale incremental development tend to be the following kinds of people. That’s who this network is for. And their journey is to grow their local team into including members from each sector. In this network, we can learn together how to connect to everyone you need in a place to optimize local impact.

Public Sector

Mayors & City Managers

Legislative Branch (City Councils, Boards) 

Village, Town, City; County and State Gov’t: 

  Staff, management, and leadership in

  • Economic Development
  • Community Development
  • Planning
  • Redevelopment Agencies
  • Land Bank (excess land and building assets)
  • Permitting and approvals (Fire, Building Code, Historic Pres, etc)

Private Sector

  • Individual small-scale developers
  • Small & medium-sized developers 
  • Subcontractors
  • Chambers of Commerce
  • Business Associations
  • Improvement Districts
  • Banks and lending institutions

Associations & Organizations

  • Community Development Orgs
  • CDCs
  • Main Street Groups 
  • Place-based organizations
  • Social advocates
  • Community Finance Institutions
  • Community and other foundations

Why?

Small-scale, incremental development is a tested and proven approach to 

    • Spurring neighborhood redevelopment
    • Jump starting more affordable housing options
    • Revitalizing corridors, Main Streets, and downtowns 
    • Activating a large, hard to develop property
    • Taking control of your local tax base production
    • Showing quick successes in a particular geography
    • Supporting neighborhood-based entrepreneurs and small businesses
    • Attracting new residents and businesses
    • Adapting aging or functionally obsolete buildings to contemporary business and residential needs
    • Local wealth building, equity, & inclusion
    • Implementing a new or existing plan 
    • Accelerating development results by combining planning and implementation

Which is your why?