MDC works both to develop the South's philanthropic assets, focusing those assets on reducing poverty and promoting social equity, and to help communities develop their assets instead of looking for help over the horizon. In developing philanthropic resources and serving philanthropies, MDC has:
- helped initiate the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, now one of America's most innovative development finance organizations
- provided strategic guidance in the creation of the Foundation for the Mid South
- evaluated programs
- conducted in-depth research on social and economic trends
- created strategic plans to focus philanthropic resources
- advised health-care conversion foundations on the link between a healthy economy and healthy residents
- focused its 2007 State of the South report on Southern philanthropy and how philanthropic organizations can be more innovative
In helping communities develop their assets, MDC uses the following strategies:
- Researches why problems exist and not just what problems exist
- Uses real data, not perceptions, to drive its strategies
- Emphasizes assets, not deficits
- Promotes locally grown solutions to local problems
- Develops public policy recommendations to remove the systemic barriers that prevent people, businesses, and communities from achieving their full potential
Programs
Danville Regional Foundation
- is a new foundation, with assets of $220 million from the sale of the local hospital, looking for strategic ways to deploy its philanthropic dollars
MDC is taking the Foundation through a community assessment process that examines economic development prospects for the area as well as education, workforce, and health outcomes so that the Foundation can be strategic in its work in the region. The Foundation now has a Web site and a newly hired president/CEO, Karl Stauber.
Project Directors: David Dodson and Joan Lipsitz
EITC Carolinas
- is a statewide resource network to help communities assist low- and moderate-income working families during the tax season to reclaim and keep their earnings. Membership in the network is free, and it provides access to free resources, training, and promotional materials. EITC Carolinas has its own Web site at www.eitc-carolinas.org.
Eligible taxpayers in North Carolina lose between $93 million and $176 million of their own money each year because they do not claim federal taxes due back to them through the Earned Income Tax Credit. Some working families lose even more money because they pay high fees for tax preparation services and short-term, high-interest, refund anticipation loans. At a time when so many of North Carolina's working families are struggling to make ends meet, no one can afford to leave this money on the table. EITC Carolinas was created to help these families, and in helping them, to help their communities and the state. Test your tax and poverty IQ with the EITC Quiz. See a PowerPoint overview of EITC Carolinas.
Project Director: Lucy Gorham
FEMA Emergency Preparedness Demonstration Program
- is a program to better prepare disadvantaged groups for future disaster events
A joint initiative of MDC and the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the demonstration program is supported by a $1.5 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help disadvantaged communities in six states and the District of Columbia prepare for disasters. MDC will be the lead partner for the two-year program, which will alert residents to the hazards of natural, technological, and manmade disasters and communicate what they can do to be better prepared.
The program will be carried out in Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., all of which received major presidential disaster declarations as a result of damages inflicted by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. The devastation and displacement wreaked by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita add urgency to this project.
The project has received an additional $500,000 to extend its work into areas affected by Hurrican Katrina.
Project Director: John Cooper
- is a community development initiative to promote change that will benefit children, families, and neighborhoods.
The Jacksonville (FL) Community Foundation, with funding from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, is managing a community development initiative to effect community-wide, systemic change on behalf of children, families, and neighborhoods. Goals include leveraging additional investments; increasing the resources and strategies for promoting positive life outcomes for all children and families; and developing the capacity of local nonprofits to assess their work and collaborate on change efforts. MDC is providing strategic technical assistance and documenting the Community Building Fund's experiences.
Project Director: David Dodson
Learning from Constructive Failures
- is a project, supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, to learn from mistakes made in the field of community economic development
The objective of this project is to identify the lessons learned from mistakes made in the design and implementation of economic development initiatives so that nonprofits can boost their capacity to manage complex community economic development efforts. The project will compile papers that identify mistakes and constructive failures and will present results and discuss implications in a conference of nonprofits and other interested parties.
Project Director: Colin Austin
Rural People, Rural Policy
- is a program to strengthen the voice of rural Americans in influencing policy at the regional and national levels
Funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Rural People, Rural Policy energizes and equips organizations and networks to shape policy that improves the lives of rural people and the vitality of rural communities. Rural People, Rural Policy is a multi-year national initiative based on the premise that rural America has abundant assets and that the brightest potential for rural America emerges when a critical mass of rural people are stronger, more organized policy actors. Rural People, Rural Policy builds and strengthens skilled networks and organizations to advocate and act in the rural policy arena. MDC is part of the management team for this program, along with several other organizations.
Project Director: David Dodson
Strategic Network for Community Philanthropy
- is a Ford Foundation initiative to develop resources and community capacity, particularly in the American South, to promote social and racial equality. MDC is managing partner for the initiative.
While the South has made progress in overcoming the challenges of racial injustice, there is still work to be done in developing the healthy civic culture that true equity requires. The Ford Foundation's initiative, the Strategic Network for Community Philanthropy, aims to develop a healthy civic culture in the region's communities through a dual approach: by increasing the pool of philanthropic assets in the American South to build equitable communities and to address the racial divide; and by equipping Southern philanthropies to work with business, government, and the nonprofit sector to promote racial and social equality in the region. MDC is supporting local, regional, and national nonprofit organizations engaged in this initiative through a peer learning network, resource development, and technical assistance.
Project Director: David Dodson