A critical component of the HD-OD is the Community Change Center (“CCC”). The CCC is envisioned to be the HD-OD “commons”; the steward of the community-based Visioning process and Human Capital Plans. The guiding principles for the CCC are transparency, accessibility, and “leveling the playing field,” by providing timely and accurate information to all stakeholders. Most importantly, it is designed to support the community’s most vulnerable population of individuals, households and small businesses so that they can make more informed decisions about their respective futures by seizing the opportunities presented by changes in the community. The CCC staff will also train resource providers, such as social service case workers and small business consultants, in their work with the community’s vulnerable population. The CCC will also serve as a mixing chamber to coordinate and integrate the activities of “People”, “Place” and “Information Technology” professionals. The goal is to provide greater overall benefits to vulnerable individuals, households and small businesses as well as to the broader community.
As the repository of information—beginning with the community’s baseline—the CCC will track change over time, evaluate the performance of interventions against the community’s households and small business’ own indicators and produce an annual “Report Card.” The CCC will be funded by local champions including foundations, CDCs, universities and municipalities so that it is sustainable for the period of the pilot project and beyond.
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During the development of application-specific tools, the HD-OD policy is to develop the tools iteratively through a feedback process with the people who will use them. The situations in which HD-OD will be applied will vary as will the level of expertise and needs of the users. The project teams will use the HD-OD Intranet as a vehicle for sharing information during the development of the HD-OD tools and processes. There is also a forum in which the public as well as participating HD-OD communities can share their experiences, learn from each other, and continue the development and dissemination of the HD-OD concept and framework.
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An HD-OD community visioning process (distinct from typical community planning processes) establishes consensus for neighborhood goals and ideas for what a community wants to be in the future. Then it tests and tracks those assumptions and interventions based on the criteria verified by the community.
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The Good Places-Bad Places (GP/BP) tool is a web-based mapping application and associated dataset that empowers community stakeholders; neighborhood residents, business owners, and others to voice their concerns about conditions in neighborhoods undergoing rapid change. Their perceptions, which create a data base of existing conditions and perceived issues, is easily searchable and can be commented on and responded to. Changes are tracked over time. In addition, public agencies, service organizations, and community groups can map any interventions they initiate to address community concerns and subsequently evaluate whether they are impacting citizens’ perceptions.
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A series of Performance Measures, based on related indicators and benchmarks, will gauge progress against established goals. Report Cards present this information which allows for reassessing goals and evaluating intervention plans. Annual HD-OD report cards evaluate the degree of attainment of goals for individuals, households or business, and for the community as a whole.
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HD-OD Tools and Processes encompass a range of activities, some computer-based and other social, organizational and process-based. HD-OD is a “framework” into which newly developed tools and strategies help to build project capacity. These tools and processes will provide the most vulnerable members of the community with the information and methodology to help them frame choices and make decisions about their future. HD-OD tools and processes will be adopted and adapted by the pilot sites to encourage each community, individual, and service provider to decide how to apply them in their specific context. HD-OD is conceived as a framework in which there are no defaults—it does not have a single entry point or a fixed critical path. Rather, it amplifies the synergistic effects of various interventions through multiple entry points and paths as well as offering opportunities for new interventions.
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Human Capital refers to individual knowledge, skills and abilities used to contribute to an individual and community’s growth and development. “Human Capital” is a term created to frame a discussion about people that can more easily engage physical development teams.
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A major function of the HCC is to be a “gatekeeper” and steward of the CCC and its clients. The HCC will supervise initial intake and determine appropriate service options. They will oversee Service Providers protocols and train them in HD-OD tools and processes, monitor local trends, research local opportunities, undertake community outreach, supervise tracking of individuals and population groups.
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Social service and/or resource providers who have an appropriate set of services within their agency to meet the opportunities and challenges related to the vulnerable population(s). Human Capital Partners agree to service an HD-OD client either as a lead casework agency or as a support provider, based on an agreement to share client information with other providers and coordinate with the CCC on information related to local community changes.
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Human Capital Plans identify a vulnerable stakeholder’s aspirations and goals, and determine specific interventions and strategies that are coordinated with opportunities generated by the catalytic event(s), to bring about the greatest possible benefit to the stakeholder. The HC Plan is longitudinally tracked to measure progress.
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A 3D "Kit-of-Parts" developed for each Community-Based models which includes a stored database of attributes. Models will be import by footprint and respond quickly to varied sets of indicators. 3D viewer interface assembles 3D models with linked attributes.
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A limited number of communities were selected to participate in the HD-OD three-year pilot project, funded by the ESC, through The Ford Foundation. The pilot communities participates in the development of HD-OD with ESC by: - Defining the pilot project, and establishing key milestones and benchmarks;
- Organizing the buy-in of the stakeholders and their participation in the three year pilot project;
- Identifying and engaging developer(s), city agencies, local neighborhood community organizations, local stakeholders, Human Capital and Social Service providers.
- Developing Human Capital Plans for local individuals, households or businesses that delineate intervention strategies coordinated with the community-based Development;
- Creating a Community Change Center (CCC). Funding for the CCC will be supplemented by local champions including local foundations and may be located in a municipal department, Community Development Corporation, university, community design center or a new entity created for the HD-OD pilot;
- Providing GIS capacity and staff, data and databases, to perform the community visioning. Collaborating with ESC and project team on an ongoing basis, recognizing that HD-OD is a “work-in-progress” and being developed with the pilot communities and for the pilot community;
- Participating in a national community of learning and contributing periodic reports and assessments of HD-OD in regard to its support of community objectives, and attending an annual meeting.
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The purpose of HD-OD is to provide tools and methodologies to help frame choices and reach consensus on individual and shared values. “Pilot Project Partners” includes: - Local institutions and organizations
- Proponents of the catalytic project, policy change and/or demographic changes
- The vulnerable community of individuals, households and small businesses
- Social Service/Resource Providers
Being a “partner” implies a willingness to take part in the HD-OD process as requested by the lead team – but does not necessarily invoke legal standing. Each constituency will have access to the same information, to be provided by the Community Change Center, and be able to respond intelligently and proactively to make decisions about their respective futures.
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Cities and neighborhoods are increasingly the focus of larger capital investments in catalytic projects, often through public-private collaborations involving universities, hospitals and health facilities, sports facilities, mass transit and transit centers, business centers, and large-scale housing developments. Typically, these catalytic projects either require changes in land-use policy in order to be realized or they follow changes in land-use policy such as zoning from industrial to residential mixed-use. These transitioning neighborhoods are also increasingly the subject of organic change brought about by demographics, immigration and gentrification. Such places can be metaphorically defined as “Shifting Sands Communities,” wherein a complex set of forces may combine to generate both intended and unintended consequences. In almost every situation, there exists a subset of low- to moderate-income residents and households, small businesses, and community organizations and institutions that will be deeply affected by these high impact development projects, new policies and population changes. In fact, it is often claimed that the purpose of these large-scale, high-impact developments is to be a catalyst for community change, based on the assumption that a rising tide raises all boats.
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HD-OD was conceived to provide proactive, asset-based planning options to human stakeholders ; individuals, households and/or businesses, who stand to be impacted, positively or negatively by a catalytic change in the physical geography of the place where they live, work and or play. “Vulnerable”, as defined by HD-OD, refers to individuals, within groups of stakeholders who are at risk from the changes brought on by the catalytic event. They are not vulnerable because they are poor or immigrant or non-English speakers, or simply because they lost a job. In the context of HD-OD, they are vulnerable because they are in the path of what might be cataclysmic change if they do not think about and plan for how to use the change to their advantage. Categorization of vulnerable cohort groups is necessary so that the individuals who are tracked can be representative of a larger population group and their progress (“success”) monitored and evaluated.
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