CORD

Part of an exciting movement that is changing the face of development in many American cities, Community Organized for Responsible Development (CORD) is a city-wide organization of community groups focusing on the long-term needs of our communities and advocating fair and responsible economic development in the New Haven area.

When new developments—especially those that receive taxpayer subsidies or major land-use approvals—are planned for our area, we are working to make sure those developments include tangible improvements for the people who live nearby — improvements such as good jobs with benefits, affordable housing and vital neighborhood and educational services.

CORD was founded by CCNE and includes hundreds of Hill residents as members, as well as 22 different local community groups, faith-based organizations and local unions.

Why do we need an organization like CORD?

Too often, only a few are reaping the benefits of 21st-century global change. Business, government and major institutions engage in a deadly race to the bottom, failing to meet their responsibilities to the broader community and lowering economic, environmental and health standards. Families are left to struggle with declining wages, longer work hours and mounting debt while a few accumulate unprecedented wealth. The growing poverty, homelessness, incarceration, disease and environmental destruction can overwhelm our communities.

What can CORD do?

No organization, no matter how powerful, is an island unto itself. We are all interconnected.

As a coalition of groups--community, labor, clergy--working for the betterment of New Haven and its citizens, CORD can bring together the combined energies of its various constituents and focus them on those projects where the overlap between issues such as housing, healthcare, education and economic justice makes clear what is at stake.

By focusing our efforts on the development process—a process that usually excludes the people most affected by it—CORD can help the people of our city determine their own destiny. One method of doing this is by negotiating Community Benefit Agreements between developers and local community groups and residents, which make sure that any new development addresses the needs of the local community.

Any project that must come to the public and ask for special treatment, such as zoning relief, public subsidies, use of public land, tax abatements, or tax-exempt financing is a candidate for a CBA. As new developers come into town, and as existing institutions expand into our neighborhoods, we can fight to insist that they sign such an agreement.

By opening up the development process to direct public involvement, we will be able to assure that New Haven’s economic development policies are balanced and represent the interests of all of us.