Public libraries are increasingly using their positions as accessible centers for information to address homelessness and mental health issues - in San Francisco, a team of Health and Safety Associates have helped pla...

The collection and analysis of data is a crucial first step in revealing and addressing areas of racial inequality in cities. Using the methodology of a 2015 New York City program designed to study metrics of inequali...

In Los Angeles, The Bin gives homeless people a chance to store their valuables. “If I didn’t have this bin, I’d have to get rid of most of my stuff. These bins are really great to have.” Across the nation, other citi...

With the aim of providing a space for congregations without a space to worship, Church Space created “co-churching” spaces that offer a room, lighting, musical instruments, a PA system and other amenities for rent. A ...

In Detroit, a new collective is bringing together affordable childcare and co-working in one space. Families purchase memberships priced per household, instead of through the traditional per child model -- parents ben...

In Chicago, where seasons as well as subpar local investment in the South Side limit children’s ability to play outside year-round, the new Pullman Community Center is a huge improvement. Beyond fostering recreational...

Kids will be the ones carrying out the effects of current city planning efforts. To get kids involved in city planning at a young age, Michael Ford started a series of “Hip Hop Architecture Camps.” By teaching about b...

When Juan Reid had a hard time finding a job after his release from prison, he finally founded a worker cooperative called Tightshift Laboring Cooperative. He wanted to create sustainable employment opportunities for ...

Opera theaters are struggling to sell tickets, but some productions are taking it as an opportunity to reinvent the way viewers experience Opera, bringing rise to a new opera. The University of California San Diego pr...

Governing Hope, an anti-racism organization, is combating racism in Portland by asking white people to pay reparations. The organization created an event called “Reparations Power Hour,” which invites people of color ...

In San Francisco, a law that offers amnesty to sex workers who report violent crimes to police is designed to save lives and reduce crime overall in the city. It comes as the city’s police department faces a massive p...

The Contractor Assistance Center in San Francisco “provides local contractors with the resources to compete with larger companies for project bids.” Many construction projects have certain standards to meet: a certain...

Community development groups are working closely with "middle neighborhoods" - areas "that aren't distressed today, but they may become so sooner than anyone expects." From Cleveland to Milwaukee to Chicago, CDCs are ...

Funded by earmarking hotel and motel occupancy taxes, the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission is funding projects focused on telling the story of the regions people and places. Through this process, the Arts Commission...

The Dutch city of Eindhoven was built around the car, even into the 1970s, but as part of remaking itself after its main industries declined or moved away, it has made a dramatic shift to emphasizing cycling. City off...

The Boston Ujima Project is on “a mission to create an alternative economy,” one that is inclusive on all measures. The main initiative is a community capital fund, which is considering foregoing collateral on loans i...

New York City has launched City Canvas, a program to commission artwork to beautify sidewalk sheds set up to protect pedestrians in construction sites. Arts organizations partnering with the project will pick location...

A collaboration between artists, lawyers, and community members has resulted in expungement clinics that clean or clear criminal records in a manner that is legally binding and emotionally therapeutic. Clinic attendee...

Kate Sofis created SFMade in San Francisco to find creative ways to support local manufacturing. The organization has helped push the local government to create more inclusionary industrial zoning, which incentivizes ...

Worker co-ops, a business model that many people are not aware of, are gaining momentum in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Cooperative Alliance (PACA) has helped push more education and funding around co-ops to come to...

Hope Credit Union has a mission: serving mostly black, marginalized communities in the South whose capital was historically displaced through slavery. In 2017, the credit union gave out $100 million in loans. ‘That to...

Leaders in Baltimore realized that improvements in food policy would be enhanced by more accurate language and more local activism. The Baltimore Food Policy Initiative brings together city agencies and uses data and ...

A community land trust is helping people in the Keys find another home, after Hurricane Irma ravished the area. “Four cottages are expected to wrap construction this fall, with another five finished by early 2019.” Th...

An Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania art project "gently" demolished a historic, vacant building and reassembled it as a communal space. This is an example of "creative placemaking," a method to both preserve the character of...

A nonprofit launched by formerly incarcerated men in New Orleans addresses some of the immediate challenges people face in the first 72 hours coming out of prison. The First 72 offers them a place to go, which can be ...