The Community Development Industry System: A Case Study of Politics and Institutions in Cleveland, 1967–1997

Abstract

:This article examines the emergence of community development corporations (CDCs) from a peripheral component of neighborhood-based community development in the late 1960s to a leading role in community development in the 1990s. An emphasis is placed on the historical development of CDCs as they have progressed from neighborhood social movements, to neighborhood-based organizations, to the current emergence of a citywide community development industry system bringing CDCs together with traditional urban institutions such as local government, corporate philanthropy, and the religious establishment. The industry system framework provides an analytical context for a case study of Cleveland’s CDCs from the late 1960s through the late 1990s.