From the Ground Up Reader
From the Ground Up: Forging a new path for community development in California is a collection of papers synthesizing what we’ve learned from California leaders since we opened our doors in 2020.
Coming out of the pandemic, leaders are articulating transformative community development strategies to tackle racial injustice and confront the climate crisis.
Inspired by the vision and energy of our clients, we set out to share what we learned. Each paper explores a different dimension of our work.
Ground Game
Recentering power-building in community and economic development practices
We parse the difference between conventional community development practices and community-led development practices.
Funding Community-Led Development
Five strategies for foundation and capital partners
We unpack how philanthropic funders and impact investors' can help communities leverage public funding for community-led development.
Designing Community Collaborations
Jairius Matthews, manager of the Embers Project, discusses what it takes to build genuinely community-centered development collaboratives.
Structured Funds 101
We look at structured funds, a community investment tool practitioners use to advance large-scale development initiatives.
Glossary
A glossary of community development and investment terms.
Thanks for reading! The papers in the From the Ground Up series are public drafts. Please fill out our evaluation at your convenience.