Purpose

The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley promotes community building though leadership with community revitalization initiatives that will provide the foundation for a decent quality of life for all residents of the Lehigh Valley region.

Description

The mission of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley (CACLV) is to improve the quality of life by building a community in which all people have access to economic opportunity, the ability to pursue that opportunity, and a voice in the decisions that affect their lives.  A Values Statement has been developed as a framework for CACLV’s overall approach.  The Values Statement encompasses the agency’s multi-faceted role as:

• An advocate
• A community development organization
• A human services agency
• A non-profit corporation
• An employer

The agency’s involvement with community revitalization occurs at both regional and neighborhood levels.  CACLV’s executive director has been a significant participant in Renew Lehigh Valley (RenewLV) that was formed in 1996 through involvement of the corporate, governmental and non-profit sectors.  The Partnership serves as a driving force to promote a central focus and a cohesive strategic plan to foster a Spirit of Investment throughout the region. 

Two central elements of the regional approach are:

• The importance of community-building efforts as described in the report Rebuilding Inner-City Communities: A New Approach to the Nation’s Urban Crisis from the Committee for Economic Development (CED).  A summary of the report by Illinois Periodicals Online (IPO) stresses the importance of leadership through coalitions of government, business and community leaders to address urban poverty. 

  RenewLV’s strategic plan cites the need to build “social capital,” which the CED has defined as "the attitudinal, behavioral and communal glue that holds society together through relationships among individuals, families and organizations.  Without social capital to sustain problem solving within distressed communities and to link community residents to the broader society…efforts to address specific problems of individuals, families and neighborhoods will make little progress [emphasis added]." 

CED issued a follow-up report “A New Metropolitan Agenda” that highlights the importance of regional governance structures to address the problems of urban areas that will otherwise ultimately create related deterioration within surrounding communities and the region as a whole.

• Statistical evidence that the flight of middle class families to suburban areas will eventually result in a decline of the entire region.  This theme of “winners turned to losers” was highlighted to RenewLV by David Rusk (a consultant on urban policy and a former mayor of Albuquerque and state legislator).  Rusk is a strategic partner with The Gamaliel Foundation that serves as an organizing institute “teaching ordinary citizens how to unleash the power within themselves to collectively impact the social, political, environmental, and economic decisions that affect their lives.” 

In addition to active participation with Renew Lehigh Valley, CACLV has created two Community Development Corporations to focus on neighborhood revitalization in the Cities of Allentown and Bethlehem.  These are:

• Community Action Development Corporation of Allentown with the mission to assist and promote neighborhood revitalization and community spirit by providing access to economic opportunity, creating and sustaining businesses owned and operated by neighbors, and empowering people to have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives.
• Community Action Development Corporation of Bethlehem that is a community-based organization comprised of a diverse group of people committed to promoting pride and positive social and economic change by creating opportunities through resident control of the problem-solving process to benefit all residents and businesses in South Bethlehem. 

CACLV’s overall approach with community development is to build assets in low-income neighborhoods viewed as “neighborhoods left behind.”  A current focus is on a cohesive effort to address the needs and opportunities of Southside Bethlehem.  The agency obtained funding from Allfirst Bank to hire a nationally recognized consulting firm - Sasaki, Associates, Inc. - for development of a South Side Bethlehem Residential Master Plan.  A study team, including representatives of CADC-B, CACLV, the City of Bethlehem and a team of private consultants, instituted a process that involved over 200 neighborhood residents in three public work sessions:

• Session One: Establish an inventory of issues and assets of the existing conditions on the Southside.
• Session Two: A strategic vision began to emerge to ultimately guide city planning and development efforts, as well as CADC-B initiatives and potential funding partnerships.
• Session Three: The study team presented ideas for implementation of many of the projects in the strategic vision and a strategy for ongoing project identification and implementation efforts.

Major recommendations of the Master Plan are:

• Create a strong open space network with a hierarchy of regional, Southside and local open spaces, connected by a tree-lined street network
  • Note – CACLV previously organized the Green Future Fund, a broad-based campaign to generate funds to create more parks and playgrounds in the dense neighborhoods throughout the region.  The campaign was through referenda in two counties that passed 70% to 30% and 65% to 35% respectively for investment of millions of dollars that will improve property values and the quality of life in urban neighborhoods
• Concentrate commercial and retail zones in areas with existing commercial concentrations to create a critical mass
• Identify and reuse abandoned parcels and buildings
• Improve gateway districts to enhance the arrival sequence and first impression of the Southside
• Identify ways to improve parking, including new policies, better enforcement of existing policies and other indirect improvements to help reduce demand
• Promote decreased density of residential neighborhoods as they get farther from commercial zones through deconversion programs targeted toward neighborhoods that are not directly adjacent to commercial zones
• Encourage home ownership and home improvements in all neighborhoods based on building condition

A Steering Committee has been established by CADC-B to identify needs and priorities and to oversee various projects as they progress.  Additional committees are activated as specific initiatives are developed (i.e. Eastern Gateway Committee). 

CACLV has placed on priority on being a catalyst for community revitalization and resident control of their communities throughout the Lehigh Valley.  The agency has been recognized as a case study for its leadership, along with its accomplishments, by the National Neighborhood Coalition (NNC) in the NNC report Smart Growth, Better Neighborhoods: Communities Leading the Way.  Particular acknowledgement is given to CACLV’s work to build a commitment for regional cooperation among all sectors of the community – corporate, government, and community-based organizations. 

Smart Growth America advances the principles of Smart Growth to promote social equity. PolicyLink is another organization involved with equitable development that believes:

Achieving equity requires a multifaceted approach that connects low-income communities to the region, the economy, technology, and, ultimately, to democracy.  These four bedrock issues form the basis of PolicyLink analyses and create the framework for solutions.  

An Equitable Development Toolkit is available through PolicyLink that provides a wealth of information on:

• Affordable Housing
• Controlling Development
• Financing Strategies
• Income & Asset Creation

Finally, the importance of regional collaboration in the Lehigh Valley was also featured in the report Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania under the Metropolitan Policy Program of the Brookings Institution.

Outcomes

A wide array of outcomes are detailed in CACLV's annual reports:

          2008-2009 Annual Report

                                         2007-2008 Annual Report

          2006-2007 Annual Report

Previous reported accomplishments include:

Several initiatives were launched as an outgrowth of the South Side Bethlehem revitalization effort. A $90,000 project for commercial façade improvements was undertaken to strengthen a Latino business district. A $30,000 residential façade program was established, a position was created to organize activities aimed at teens, and the city began working on the process of designing a rail-to-trail greenbelt that stimulated a proposal to create market-rate townhouses along the proposed trail.

The successful Green Future Fund campaign resulted in an appropriation of $8 million from Lehigh County to support expanded parks and playgrounds.