Progressive Planning Leader Pat Rosenthal and Common Wealth Inc.. In 988Commo Wealth incorporatedacomm u ni tylan trust to rehab hous s in th ecity's So thSide.whiletrain inglocalyouthin
Trang 1Progressive Planning Leader Pat Rosenthal and Common Wealth Inc of Youngstown, Ohio
by Pierre Clavel
Com m on WealthInc s Comm unity Development
Cor p oration(CDC) founded inYo ungs town,Ohio,
that began bysu portingworkerbuyo u ts nd
co operativesin the1980s.Its to ryislargelythatof
Exe cutiveDirectorPat Rosenthal.who turned tolaw
sch oolandorganizing after th reela rge teelmills
closed an d decimat ed Youn stown ' s economy in 1978
Com monWea lthexem plifies thewaymanyCDCs
cha ngedinthe1 80s nd1990s.CDCsbuilta lot of
affordablehou sin g,an d manybecame landlord s,
butrealesta tedevelopme nt threa tened todisplace
theorig in alcommunitydevelop me nt mission of
crea tingjobsand actu ally in vol vinglocalre id ents
in imp rov ingthei rownneig h bo rhoo dsand their
own lives.Incontrast, Com mo n\Vealthexcelled a a
CDCforits ability,overtwo-and-a-hal fdecad es o
naviga teits dilem m asandsur vivewith man y ofits
or igina lgoalsin tact
Rosenthal wasthekeytopre erv ingtheCDC's
mission She had begun org anizi ngb helping
incorpo ra te worke r-ow ned h usecleanin
co o p erative.In1986Rosen thalandheralliesstarted
theC DCalong with the Commo nvvealthRevolvin
LoanFu ndto sup po rtbothworker-o wned and
-m anagedsta rt-ups andthe reten tio nand growth
of existingcompan ies In 988Commo Wealth
incorporatedacomm u ni tylan trust to rehab hous s
in th ecity's So thSide.whiletrain inglocalyouthin
con structiontrad es
Committed Allies
Rosenth al had comm ittedallies.La wassociat eand
mento rSta ugh ton Lyndha d been instrumen talin
the Yo u ngstownEcu men icalCo alito ' sattempt to
achi e ve a worke r buyout ofoneof themills,and
hehelpedorganize Com mo nWealth'seffort to
20 PROGRESSIVEPLANNING
su p rtcoope rativeownershipan alsos rvedo
isboard.BishopJa me W.Malon e,a headofthe Roma nCatholicDiocese of You ngs to wn.com mitted
matchin fu nds andsu p po rted prop osals u mitted
to the nationa lCatho licCampaign forHuman Develo pme nt(CCHD).including afive-ye ar gra nt that fundedCom mon Wealt h from18 to1993 and t heloanlossreserve John Logue.ap litical
science professor at Ken t Sta te,focused onem ployee ownershipandse rved as unify ing board memb e r of
Commo n Wealthfrom 1986untilhisdeath in2009
In 1987Rosenthalgot the supportand invol vem en t
of twonewcomers tothe city.One wasBrianCorbin, whoMalone hired a the socialactiondirector for
Trang 2thediocese and whowasta ked wit hcreati ngjobs.
Theot he rwas JimCo verse.a o ciologistwho had
wo rkedatseveral univ e rsities nd non -p ro fits
Co verseandRosenthal.who comple mente deach
ot he r profess ion ally,als o became acoup leand
even t ua lly married.whi leat the same timepro vidin g
esse n tia l lead ersh iptothe orga niz a tio n
error.Itseffortto use theloanfund to establis h
em p loyee-ow ned and -rnan agedbusine sses
en co u n te re dobs ta cles.The co m m u n ity land trust
failed to provid e sign ifica ntjobsand training,and
resid entswereunableto gene rate equity or functi on
collec ti ve ly Rosenth alandConve rse couldnot
sus tai n the em p loy ee self-m a nagem en tand buy out
mod eltheyinitiallyenvi sion edfortheloa nfund
Common Wealth's Housing Achievements
\VhatCom mon Wealt h wasableto do, nc reas in gly
in the 19905,wasdevelopafforda b le housing
Conve rse and Ros ent hal to okthelead genera ting
hou s in g pro jectsas they mana g ed publ icheari ngs
andcond uc tedop ening negotia tionsfor two
projectsbeg in n ingin1995and 1996in th e land
trus t'sSout hSidene igh borh o od.Lat ertherewere
ot he r project opport u n itiesin sur ro u nd ing to wns
like Cam p be ll.and by 1 9 Rosen t ha l wasable
topro je ct over300unitsof newho u s in g under
con str u cti on or comp leted
Thisexpansionwaspossiblebecau seof MarkIVhipkey
who star ted workingforCo m m o n Wealthin 1991
and played amajor rolein planningand packag ing
the eprojects.Rosentha l descr ibed Whip key'S
fu nctio nsas a different"laye r"of ca pacity,oneshe
andConversecould nothave provide d.Theirswas
rep rese nta tio n,advocacy and politicalbridge-build ing
But itwasWhi pkeywho drov ethedevelopmenttea m
professionals,plans ndapp licationssothat projects
could gofor wardpro fitabl y Healsomanaged the
cons tru ctio nsothatprojectsstay ed with inbudgets and
time lines,mak ing itp ssible rebudgetconstruc tio n
conti ngenciesto cover de velop er feesins te adof going
to co ns tructioncostover ru ns.Eventu ally there were
nine projects ndseveral hundred units yieldi nga
Staying Focused on the Big Picture
One key toCom mo Wealthsemergence asa major
play erinYou ngstownand the region in the 1990s
wa th at itslead ershipnever projected anarro wness
of conce rn.The orig in almis on ca me fromthe sharedexpe rience and mem or y ofthefailed stee l buy o ut atte m p t at theendofthe 1970s It wa nev er just hou sin g.And whenit washousing.it was
conce rn with how hou sin gs t within the st ru ct u reof busin essin the ommunity
In ret rosp ect,a keymovewas Com mon Wealth's decis io n totake the lead b insertingitselfin
Com mu n ity Rein vest ment Act (CRA) hearing s.CRA wasthe result ofa1970sfed era llawrequ irin g ba nks
to invest n lo w-inc om e com m u n ihes ifth ey wa n te d
to exp a ndservicesor acqu ire smallcom m u nity -oriente d banks.Many took noti cewhenRosent hal
andConve rse,witha oa liti on ofadvoca tes, questio ne dloca l bankpractic s.Asa resul tofa
prot estfile d bythe coalitio n,anattem pted bank
merge rwasdenied by theFedera lReserveBoard andCo verse, n part becauseoi hisres ea rch in to
ba nk practices,gotthe ttentio nof cityandcounty
politici a ns ndplanner s.Co m mo n~Ve althsoo n wa
aplayer incityeffor tsto att ra ct fed eral andstate housingfunds.Beg inning in 1988 Co ve rseand Rosenthal prese nted a po licypap erthat influen ced
thecity' Sfirs tComp rehe ns iveHousing Afforda bil ity
St ra tegy(CHAS)docum en t,whichbrou ghtfund s
into the ityandprovidedCom mo Wea lt h andothe r non-profitswithaddition alfundin g City governm ent attitude cha nged: non-profitsbecamepartnerswith
thecityin many areas of pol icy
Common Wealth Goes Regional WithWhip keyinvolv ed, Com mo Wealt hwa able
tohire andcontractwithad d itio na lsta ff tomake proje ctsgofor w ard Rosentha landConve rsewe re
then able to go in otherdirec tions.Starting in1995, but mostim portan tlyaite r1999 hey laun ch ed an
effor tatregio na lorg anizing.In1995,Corbi n made
conta ct withMa ryGonzales,andeven t ua lly Greg
s ale.The logic,articu late dby Gamalieladviso r
Trang 3andMin n eso ta legi slatorandlawprofessorMyron
Or fie ld,wa that th e problemsof the inner city
had been exacerbated bytheou t-m igra tionof
middle-class popula tionsto su b u rb an andru ral
parts ofcity hinterland s,and that there was a joint
intere st in pre ser vationofin ne r-city instituti on s
and nei ghb orhood s.Gam a lie l challen g ed Com mo n
lVe alth andareacong rega tio ns toraise fundsto
em p loy a prof essionalorg a n ize r whowouldwork
with inner-cit y andsu b ur ba n church es onjo in t
so lu tio ns tocityprobl em s
By 1998RosenthalandCon vers ehad become
informala sociates ofGa ma lie l, earninginvitation s
toconferencesandorganize r retreat s.Com mo n
Wea l t h wo rk ed with lo calclerg yand laylea d er s
to for mACTION (Alli a nce for Cong rega tio na l
Tra nsfor m a tio n Influencing Ou rNeigh bo rhoods)
and rai sed funds tohire anorg an izer.Thishelp ed
ad a nce th e causeofa regr onal ap p ro ac h to
communitydevelopment.Com mo nWeal th provid ed
office space ands r veda fisca lagent.ACTIO N
org a nize d twe nt y Youngstow n andsu bu rba n
ch u rc hes round issu esofcr ime and corru p tio n,
ed u catio n and a groce rysto re reo pe ning.Common
We alththen worked with FatherEdNogaof St
Patrick ' sCh urchan d ACTI O Nto raise fun ds tohire
r ly ron Orfie ld for a cr itica lstu dyand twoday-trips
toYoung st own thatsp u rredsu burban church esto
su p po rt further dis cuss io noftheseregr onalconce rns
Rose n th a l lat er ch arac teriz ed theintera ction as
"ins p iring."Orfie ld had organi zed an instituteto do
analy s esof regi on alfinances an d problems,and the
coalit ion rai sed $~O OOOmoretofund an analysis and
rep orton regi onaldynami csimpact in gYou ngsto w n
Thiswas pres entedatameeting atYou ngs tow nSta te
Un ivcrsitv inOcto be r2001andco vere d bynews
mediaInmor ethan adoz en articlesand report s
For m al arrangements for reg ional coopera tio n
were lim ited a some of the rea chu rc hespu lled
outot the regionalcoalitio ndue to im pa tien ce
withthe"metro-eq uiy" focusfavored bvCom mo n
Wealt h.The coalition wa we aken ed,butthe core
ofcom mu n itiesand orga n izerswassu stantial
andCommonWealthhad new allies.Rosen tha l
an d Con ve rse hadbeenene rg ize d,an d the re were
sta te wi de result s Ga m alie lspons o red anOhio
22 PROGRESSIVEPLANNING
Me tro-Eq uityTask Force in 2006,and ther e was the
crea tionofGrea terOh io, istingoffic s inColu m bus,
Cinci n n ati,Clev e la n d and You ng st ow n, with
Co versea Mah on ing Valley Direc to r Succession Crisis
By2006-07 Rosenthal an dCo versehad decision sto
make aboutthe future ofCom mo nWealt h.They wer e
facing,or thoughtthey werefacing.thebeg innings
ofthe effec ts of age Bo t h werenowo ve r60 They had healthproblemsin 2003,were fee ling fragileand
wond eringhow to con ti nue.At the en d of 2005they
soug ht agran t for $25,000 from the sta te thatwould
provid e ad m inis tr a tive fundingtofreeupsome time Thesta te grant required them toenacta uc cess io n plan.Thismighthavebeenroutine, bu tsome
Com mo nWeal th boardmemberssaw it asa chance
to ch angedirecti on.AsRosent halthoughtlat er,
theywouldhave argued that"a fford able hous ing is
wha tgot usto whe re we are,solet'smaketha t ou r
core missi on."Corbinha d hope dfor an in fusion
ofnew ene rgyto expand thefina ncerole Whip key
represented.movin gCom mo Wealt h toa newlevel with newcapa citi esto fina nce business ta rt -u ps
as well ashousing.ButRosentha l and Converse
bridl ed atwhat they sawas a restri ctio nofCom mo
Wealt h'smis on andsoug h t board re-a ffir ma tio n
ofthe broadergoal s of the org an izatio n.They
prevai led.Bytheendof2007Whipk eyhad resigned andCorb in.whohadad vocate d thehousing foc us
lefttheboa rd Ros enthal, cha ra cte ristica lly, mended
fence s.Wh ip key agree d to con tinue as cons u lta n t andCorbi n wasappointedto theCom mon Wealth
Revo lv ingLoanFu nd board Ele naColrnena res
-Whipkeymov ed into thep sition of manager of
housingdevelopmentandassets Moving into Food Deserts
By 2008an alterna ti ve direc tio n wa cha rte daroun da
conste llationof initia tivesfocusedo foo d, ncl uding
product ion,processin andmarke ting.As Com m on Wealt h wor kedwith innerci churc hesin 1997, h e proble msassocia ted with theloss of su perm ar ke t
s rvice as the citypopu la tion and incom edecl ined and neigh borhoodsbecam e whatacti vi stsla te r
called"food deserts became visib le.Common
Trang 4Wealth ha d foundnew ene rgy in2003and 2004b
helpingto star t and managea farmer smarke t in
isne ig hb orh o od;Co ve rs e hadsta r ted markets
inothe rcommu nities La ter.the orga niz ationwas
insp iredto expandb the wor kof Milwaukee
activ istand MacArthu rFellow WillAllen,who
wasdoing in novativework infoodproducti on
andcooperativema r ketin g,and fo u nd enthusias tic
su p po rtinYou ngstownan d in the reg ion,where
newfoodprodu ct ion technol ogi es were ap pea ring
Thustheorgani zin gmission that Com m o n
Wea lth began wit h ha d ne wlife.Whipkey ' S
la rge -s cal ehousing develop me nt in it iati ve sno w
provid ed ac sh flow to sup po rt at least some of
this orga n izing work,and the pros p ec tof ne w
gra n ts ee m ed prom is ing.At lea st one CDC had
avoide d thenarro wing of mission tha tmany in the
movementfeared
Lessons Learned
What can we learnfromthe experiencesof
Ros enthalandCom m onWealth?
Firs tof aILCommonWealth's evolu tion unfold ed
overare la t ive lylongtime.It took twenty
-nine yearsfrom Rosen tha l's star t in1 8 1tothe
presen t- themajorityof Rosentha l's workinglife
In part thiswa s becauseshe worked carefull y,
getti ng bu y-in and maintaining mutual resp ect
inside andouts ide the org an iz a tio n
WasRo s enthala"progress iv eplan n er ?"
Perhaps not a "p la nne r." Her trai n in g wasla w,
an dbefore thatsh e had worke d as me nt al
healt h profes sional.Her entra nce tola wsch o ol
wa moti vat ed by a desi reto gel pastone -o
n-one counselin tosys temicsolu t io ns to socia l
pro b lems.Ly n d wasas go od a i gets s
mento rin that regard.When asked if she"had
a plan"guiding Co m mo n Wealth'scourse ,she
irnrnedia tel vdeni e d it Itwasall"s ea tofthe
pants,"sh esa id.I am not convinced.For one
thing, twas not Rosenthalalone.Converse was
herintellec tualand politicalpart ner,an d tog e th er
they added lip.It was Co v e rs e wh obrou gh t
in the la nd trust model.and who elabo ra ted the
food program a areg io n a l sy stem,connecti ng producers,wholesalers,marketersand consumers
Con v erse connectedComm onWealth to national
networksin th is mergingcentral concern ofthe
com m u ni tydevelopmentmovement.Partne rs
with thesecomp lem en tary skillsand in st inct s are common in succes sfu lplan ningopera tio ns
Typica lly thepla nn in g direc torhand les the
"po litics" while thestaff pro vid esthe firstcut no t
the defi ni t ive in itia tives
I h in k Ros enthalhad an inte rna lgyroscopethat
allo wed hertoseetheroad infron tofherand led
her to collectivesolu tionstosocial ssues rath er thanin divi d ua listicones.The re werec rtain ly
red istributi ve themesinallof Commo nWea lt h's
projects.Th ere wass d nes s whenSou thSide
residentswere unab le tostickwith the land trust
model Above allthedecision tomobilizethe
Commo n Wealt hboard arounda broader pro g ram,
eventuallyexpressed in the foodinitiatives,reflected thaitendencv,
Pi erre Gavel i s a pr ofessor o f c ity a nd re>: iol/al p lallt/illg
at Co rnell Ulli versity and i s tireIIl/t llarll!Activ ists
inCityHal l.[o rtucomiug f rom C om el/ UI/i persity
Pre ss, S eptember 2010 Tlr is s tory is tir e esult of r ecent
int e rvi ews by th e aut hor ill Y Ol/lI KstOW II.
NO 184 SUMMER 2010 23