Community Action Champion Bob Coard: 1927 - 2009

On Monday I attended the funeral service for Bob Coard.

Bob was totally unique, extremely dedicated and a true believer in what Community Action is all about. After 45 years on the front lines of our network, Bob retired on Nov. 1 as president and CEO of Action for Boston Community Development. Under his leadership, ABCD has grown into a renowned Community Action Agency with 1,000-plus employees serving more than 100,000 people in need each year.

He was instrumental in establishing the National Community Action Foundation, the Community Action Program Legal Services, Inc. (CAPLAW) and Greater Boston Legal Services.

In collaboration with Boston Public Schools, he started two high schools for at-risk youth. He also established the Urban College of Boston, the widely recognized college for low-income people. Declaring that education is the only permanent pathway out of poverty, Bob successfully pursued a state charter as well as full accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. More than 750 students, most from Boston’s low-income neighborhoods, register for classes at the two-year college each semester.

When I think of Bob, I largely think about his wonderful sense of humor. He also tolerated my humor. He was the kind of guy I like to play a joke on every once in a while, and I only do that with people I really care about. He was always fair game and a good sport. I will miss Bob Coard deeply for a long time.

At the funeral, I sat by Charles Braithwaite and we reminisced about Bob. While I was talking to him it hit me: the same day we buried Bob Coard at the age of 82, Sargent Shriver, who is dealing with health issues of his own, turned 94. Sarge, Bob and Charles are the three most influential people in my professional life. Each have been greatly involved in helping those who deserve help. It made me think even more about what we’re doing to encourage those who want to carry the torch and commit their careers to helping those who need it most.

No one can fully fill the shoes of a man such as Bob Coard, but we must groom the path for those who follow in his footsteps.

What Do I Mean by Revisiting CSBG?

A number of people have asked me about what I mean by my comments, on this blog and in recent speeches, about revisiting the Community Service Block Grant.

I had someone come up to me at our conference last week and accuse me of hating states. Let me assure you: I do not hate states!

If we are going to continue the hard push for CSBG reauthorization, we can never be satisfied with the status quo. (If we were satisfied with the status quo, there would never have been a “War on Poverty” 45 years ago.) I think that it is a healthy process to revisit things from time to time and answer for ourselves some of the tough questions that could face our network.

For example, is the current system the most effective mechanism for delivering services and resources to those who need them? Are we fully encouraging innovation, partnerships and effectiveness? These are legitimate questions that we should not be afraid to ask. I, alone, do not know the answers. It is up to all of us to answer these questions.

I have had a few federal officials tell me in the last two weeks that they are disappointed in state performance and have openly asked what alternatives might be. This is stemming from the fact that 17 states still have not spent weatherization stimulus dollars.

We will continue to be asked questions. We should actively be seeking the answers for ourselves. If at the end of the process we discover that we only need to fine tune a few things – great! The process would have been beneficial.

Please contact us with any questions or comments you may have about this.

Planning the 2010 Combined CIF-NCAF Energy Conference

There were many positive outcomes from the Combined CIF-NCAF Energy Conference in St. Petersburg last week, some of which you can read about in my previous blog entries.

While many of the speakers touched on it, I’m still not sure that we fully captured all the synergies that exist between economic development and energy. I feel the CIF economic development part of the conference was successful and the energy portion of the conference was successful, yet they seemed to stand alone.

There is great promise for pairing community development and energy, and I look forward to exploring this synergy more deeply in the 2010 Combined CIF- NCAF Energy Conference.

This week I visited with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who spoke at our conference via video. He talked about a meeting he had just had with venture capitalists in Silicone Valley who were interested in energy efficiency and technology. He said, "These people are intersted in the things that you and I are interested in, David."

How do we reach out to people like this in the private sector and potentially open up whole new worlds of possibilities in weatherization and community development? I don't yet know the answer, but I am going to do my damnedest to figure it out. I think it will be fun trying along the way!

I welcome ideas via e-mail or in the comments section below.

ExxonMobil and NCAF Award Grants to Train New Workers in Weatherization

ExxonMobil Corporation and NCAF announced Tuesday that we have awarded approximately $4 million in grants to nine recipients of the ExxonMobil-NCAF Weatherization Training Partnership program. The grants will support training for workers to improve energy efficiency of low-income homes across the nation.

ExxonMobil Downstream Issues Manager Michael Roman, who represented the company at the CIF-NCAF Combined Conference, said the partnership with NCAF was “created with the common goal of protecting the environment, promoting energy efficiency and expanding career opportunities.”

Grant recipients proposed the most innovative new approaches and partnerships to enhance training for workers delivering weatherization services through the Weatherization Assistance Program.

The following organizations received grants:

-- Action Housing, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.
-- Energy Coordinating Agency, Philadelphia, Pa.
-- Indiana Community Action Association, Indianapolis, Ind.
-- Community Services Agency, Reno, Nev.
-- Association for Energy Affordability, Inc., New York, N.Y.
-- Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development, Athens, Ohio
-- Community Housing Partners Corporation, Christianburg, Va.
-- Community Action Team Inc., St. Helens, Ore.
-- Montana Weatherization Training Center at MSU, Bozeman, Mont.

Grant amounts range from $300,000 to nearly $1 million. These are in addition to a $100,000 demonstration grant awarded by ExxonMobil and NCAF in August to a group of Ohio agencies who have teamed up to form a weatherization training partnership.

The partnership advisory board reviewed more than 100 letters of interest from Community Action Agencies across the country before selecting the nine finalists.

I'll be sharing more details about each of these exciting new projects in future blogs.

General Motors Offers NCAF Members $500 Off New GM Vehicles

On Tuesday, NCAF announced a new partnership with General Motors that will save Community Action Agencies money on future vehicle purchases for agency activities. The private offer, available exclusively to CAAs, will give members a $500 discount off of their lowest negotiated deal with their local GM dealer.


I feel this is an important partnership in these challenging economic times. We want to send a message to Washington that we are doing our part to support the American auto industry and the American worker.

Director of GM FCO Sales Bill Gibson, pictured left, introduced the offer to CIF-NCAF Conference participants, previewed some of GM’s newest models, and provided an update on the progress GM has made since declaring bankruptcy earlier this year. He assured the group that General Motors is strong and that this is a partnership they plan on having for years to come.

The $500 discount offer is valid on most GM models, and is available until Oct. 30, 2010. However, if CAAs respond favorably, the deal will likely be renewed.

New Markets Tax Credit a Promising Tool for Building Project Capital in Low-Income Communities

Here at the CIF-NCAF Combined Conference this week, representatives from Rural Development Partners outlined what they consider to be one of the most promising and least understood tools for capital attraction in low-income communities -- the Federal New Markets Tax Credit Program.

The NMTC program provides incentives for investments in a wide range of projects serving low-income communities. Community Development Entities field local projects and decide which are worthy for funding, generally in the form of low-interest loans. Investors are guaranteed a 39 percent tax credit against their allocations over seven years as long as 85 percent or more of the capital received by the CDE is invested in the project.

Steve Baker, a founding member of and consultant for Rural Development Partners, said that the time is right to pursue the new NMTC allocations that are out there. While there is a lot of competition for the funds, it looks like it pays to be persistant. Baker told our group that “half of the potential economic developers throw in the towel too soon and, therefore, half of the potential new markets don’t get established.

To date, an accumulation of $26 billion has been allocated to the program.
With bipartisan accolades and its recent designation as one of the top 50 programs in the U.S. government, it looks like the NMTC program is here to stay.

To find your local CDE, visit www.cdfifund.gov and look under “What We Do” / “New Markets Tax Credit.”

SNHU Offers Master’s Program in Community Economic Development

On Monday, National Community Action Foundation and Southern New Hampshire University officially announced a partnership in forming an online master’s program in community economic development.

For the past five years, it has been a priority of ours to increase the education capacity among Community Action Agencies regarding community economic development. We have worked with numerous universities to create a discussion about poverty that has been missing on many U.S. college campuses. These efforts continue through this new partnership with SNHU.

The 36-hour master's program is expected to be launched in the fall of 2010.

Blogging from St. Petersburg, Fla. This Week

I am pleased to say I will be blogging from the beautiful and historic Renaissance Vinoy in St. Petersburg, Fla., all week during our first combined conference for Community Investment Futures Community and Economic Development and NCAF Energy Leveraging Programs.

This year's conference could not be more timely. The months leading up to it have brought our network unprecedented Recovery Act investments from weatherization to expanded housing services, employment programs, Head Start and job development resources.

We have partnered the CIF and Energy conferences because community economic development is vital to all the changes Community Action and its partners hope to achieve. Clearly, the Obama Administration is looking for vigorous local leadership to re-direct local economies, change the way resources have been distributed and form unprecedented and innovative partnerships. There is national support for investment and innovations that have an element of environmental and resource sustainability.

The training and discussions that will go on here in the next five days are designed to present the possibilities that the current moment presents, as well as to help learn from the sometimes pesky operational problems that stand in the way of rapid growth.

It is my hope that the hundreds of attendees who are here with us in St. Petersburg will leave renewed and ready for some of the most interesting times and best opportunities Community Action and its partners have ever known. Through this blog, I also hope to share a glimpse of the expertise gathered here with those unable to join us this week.

Stay tuned!

Looking Forward to the Weeks Ahead

There are several things I’m looking forward to in the next couple weeks.

Tomorrow I am co-hosting a small lunch for Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a true rising star in the U.S. Senate.

Senator Reed is a member of the Senate HELP Committee, which oversees our nation’s health care, education, employment and retirement programs. He is also a major supporter of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Weatherization Assistance Program.

Senator Reed is a smart, impressive man, and I look forward to getting to know him better in the months and years ahead.


On Friday, I travel to Boston for a tribute dinner for Robert Coard. Having served 41 years as Action for Boston Community Development’s president and chief executive officer, Bob is retiring.

Two thousand people are expected to attend Friday’s dinner to thank Bob for his leadership. I have been asked to join the governor of Massachusetts, the mayor of Boston and others to pay tribute to Bob. Admittedly, I am nervous about my speech, because probably 75 percent of it is expected to be humorous. I enjoy speaking, but this is a different kind of speech for me. I hope my attempts at humor will go over well and this long-time leader in Community Action will be appropriately honored.

On Saturday I travel to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the Combined Community Investment Futures and NCAF Energy Conference. I will kick off the event on Sunday with a 2010 election outlook and what it will mean for Community Action programs. The rest of the conference, which will run through Nov. 5, will offer tools, contacts and program information that community and housing development professionals need to build their community’s capital base.

I will be blogging regularly from the conference, so be sure to tune in next week.

Appropriations Bills May Not Pass Until December

When the Senate Majority Leader predicts a timeline, you can generally take that to the bank. However, it appears Congress will miss its deadline of having all appropriations bills completed by the end of October.

I always felt they would meet this end-of-October deadline, but for a lot of reasons it now looks like the appropriations process may not finish until mid-December. This week Congress is consumed primarily with health care reform and passing a continuing resolution to fund the government through mid-December.

Most of the appropriations bills that impact Community Action Agencies are very close to 2009 funding levels, with the exception of a slight funding variation in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. With the additional stimulus funding for Community Action programs, it leaves very little to disagreement.

The potential relevance of the appropriations delay to the Community Action network lies in earmarks. A number of agencies will now have individual earmarks that will not be effective by the time the bills are signed into law.

Stay tuned as the prolonged appropriations process unfolds.