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Recently Released: New Research Volume on Capacity Building for Faith-Based and Community Organizations

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Faith- and community-based organizations have
accomplished a great deal in terms of building affordable
housing, expanding economic opportunity, and revitalizing
their communities, but research rarely focuses on how
these organizations grow, become more effective, and
reach the point of long-term viability. To address this
knowledge gap, in June 2003, HUD's Center for Faith-Based
and Community Initiatives and the Office of Policy
Development and Research convened a symposium: "Building
the Capacity of Faith- and Community-Based Organizations
Summit".

A new publication from HUD's Office of Policy Development
and Research (PD&R) gathers papers that address the key
issues in expanding the capacity of these organizations.
The independent papers that together form the content of
this new PD&R publication supplement the practical
knowledge that was shared at the Summit.

"Building the Organizations that Build Communities:
Strengthening the Capacity of Faith and Community-Based
Development Organizations" documents the issue of
capacity and provides a clear view of the research gaps
facing faith-based and community development
organizations. The 17 papers are divided into the
following four sections:

1. Defining the Issues. This section provides a
historical overview of faith-based community development,
as well as related capacity issues. Topics include:

o Limitations to organizational and leadership progress;
o The role of faith-based organizations in community
investments and affordable housing; and
o The role of intermediaries in assisting faith- and
community-based organizations.

2. Current Research on Building the Capacity of Community
development Organizations. This section includes papers
related to specific issues in capacity building,
including:

o The role of employee benefits;
o Long-term organizational capacity;
o Leadership development; and
o Lessons learned from failed organizations.

One author observes that good benefits packages represent
real costs that should be budgeted. These costs are
generally less expensive than hiring new staff and
dealing with high turnover. Another author recommends
that intermediaries and funders invest more in the long-
term health of community-based development, rather than
focusing on short-term projects. Gaps are also identified
in developing women executives and leaders of color, and
increasing peer-to-peer learning for new leaders in small
organizations.

3. Training and Capacity. This section includes papers
related to training CDC workers, including:

o The history and future of education and training;
o Leadership development;
o Urban ministry training; and
o Analysis of current education and training programs.

4. The Role of Performance Measures in Expanding
Capacity. This section includes the following two papers:

o Issues and concerns regarding performance standards;
and
o Implementing an outcome measure system focused on self-
defined goals.

One paper recommends proceeding with caution when
considering performance measurement, and being wary of
one-size-fits-all standards. Performance measures have
great potential in measuring community outcomes, but
should be used only with practitioner input on outcomes
measured. Another paper presents the high cost of hiring
professional evaluators as a critical barrier to
conducting evaluations that could demonstrate community
impacts, inform decisions to improve programs, and ensure
accountability to both funders and constituents.

"Building the Organizations that Build Communities" is an
excellent primer on building the capacity of faith- and
community-based organizations to be successful agents of
change in their communities. Directors of faith-based and
community organizations, public community development
agencies, foundations and intermediaries, researchers,
and students will all find this publication to be an
excellent addition to their resource library.
The publication is available as a free download at
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/commdevl/buildOrgComms.html
or in printed form for a nominal fee by calling
HUD USER at 1-800-245-2691.
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