A letter from the Executive Director
I was asked to write about CDC’s greatest accomplishments over the last 10 years.  The CDC’s customary modesty makes that difficult, but an assignment is an assignment.

In 1998, Marcus Pollock and I wrote, and the CDC published a book, The Urban Transition Zone—A Place Worth a Fight.  The book stood a lot of conventional wisdom about neighborhood dynamics on its head, and it tackled difficult issues like race and politics.

In the end, we were right: there are tipping points for neighborhoods; many conventional strategies not only didn’t work, they were counter-productive; building from strength does work, with sensible strategies and sufficient investment; and there is nothing that says that blocks, neighborhoods or cities have to fail.

The CDC’s execution of the strategies from our book took a lot of determination, an extraordinary amount of good luck, the consistent efforts of our partners and the faith of our supporters.

Ten years later, we proved that a neighborhood widely perceived as inevitably doomed to being poor, minority and blighted could succeed.  In doing that, we and our partners saved the neighborhood, changed perceptions about urban possibilities and improved the lives of all who live here.  That is the accomplishment I’m proudest of.

— Ed Rutkowski