The Background and History of Community Development Organizations

This chapter provides a more in-depth description of the major characteristics of the three types of community development organizations discussed in this book and provides a historical overview of the community development field. For each of the organizations featured—CDCs, RHDOs, and CDFIs—we describe program mixture, geographic location, organizational size, organizational capacity, capital structure, and assets. This chapter also describes community development during the last five decades, since the late 1960s from its original comprehensive vision as a key element of the War on Poverty to the present period of comprehensive, multi-sector approaches. The chapter examines how community development work has evolved to an approach where community development organizations partner with many other organizations that have specialized expertise, relationships, and resources.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

1. San Francisco, CA, USA Robert O. Zdenek
2. Portland, OR, USA Dee Walsh

1. Robert O. Zdenek