Group Donates $80 Million To Help 5 Struggling U.S. Cities

More than $80 million in grants, loans and investments were awarded Thursday to fund five U.S. cities' initiatives to help low-income communities, reports USA Today.

The cities -- Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Newark and Minneapolis-St. Paul -- competed among 19 urban centers for the awards. Each were asked to propose long-term strategies for specific projects to help develop the cities' communities.

Living Cities, a philanthropic group comprises 22 foundations and financial institutions worldwide, funded the project. Ben Hecht, the company's CEO, said the effort is a collaborative process:

"The underlying principle of our initiative is that to do this work, you have to have the public sector, the private sector, local philanthropies and the non-profit community all at the same table talking about solving the problem...None of those, on their own, will make a long-term change."

Baltimore won $19 million for its proposition to create jobs, construct housing and add a new rail line, reports The Baltimore Sun. In the Twin Cities, $16 million will be directed toward the protection and creation of affordable housing, the construction of a new transit line and marketing assistance for local businesses, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. The collaborative announced $15 million for Newark, $17 million for Detroit and $15 million for Cleveland. Each submitted equally inventive projects to revive low-income residents.

Hecht hopes the initiative will inspire others to help, so the efforts last after the funds run out, he told The Baltimore Sun:

"This chunk of money will hopefully accelerate what they want to do and actually give people confidence to be even more ambitious...We think we can help cities catalyze change and attack long-term problems."

Read more about the donations at USA Today.

Comments

[JTCan]

03:19 PM on 10/31/2010

Just think how much all the money wasted by lobbyist and campaign funding could have done for the country. Shame on them all for not seeing the bigger picture.

[PotomacOracle]

05:57 PM on 10/29/2010

Elected officials and community activists in these cities may be able to create a fiscal/monetary revolution which solves their economic dilemma.

The citizens of N. Dakota, long ago (1919) figured out the solution to raising sufficient capital to finance agriculture, industry and housing. Today, they are the only state with a budget surplus.

None of the cities in N. Dakota needs to use unacceptable levels of deficit financing to secure the goods and services required to fully implement their approved budgets.

A thorough reading of the articles in the links below may well lead many cities to the greener pastures of solvency. What do they have to lose? So far, conventional wisdom has failed them, since it is controlled by private, for profit bankers.

http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/new_theory.php
http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/banks_near.php
http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/mysterious_cafrs.php

[CaliTLC]

02:41 AM on 10/29/2010

Meg Whitman could have done the same for 10 California cities instead of BLOWING IT on her losing campaign.

[Left of Right]

12:12 AM on 10/29/2010

What a wonderful piece of good news amongst the bad!

[PTAOfficerforObama]

07:20 PM on 10/28/2010

I know there are a lot of people who will say that it is a waste to spend money on Detroit. However I grew up there and it was once a great city. Detroit was the Arsenal of Democracy and helped America win World War II. Detroit made the automobile affordable to the common man and helped create the middle class in the US. I think Detroit has great people and could be great again. Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (We hope for better things-it will rise again from the ashes.

[jsgaetano]

06:49 PM on 10/28/2010

Just think how better off America would be if the Chamber of Conservative Criminals were getting foreign money to invest in America, rather than getting foreign money to buy up the GOP.

[Left of Right]

12:09 AM on 10/29/2010

Bravo! F&F

[Sharon Corcoran]

07:17 PM on 10/29/2010

just imagine- Billions of dollars on hate ads-

[climbing panda]

06:28 PM on 10/28/2010

this is all wrong. this money should have been confiscated from these "institutions" through windfall and robin hood taxes so that the government bureaucracy could allocate the money. private philanthropy has no place in society!

[FunctioningBrain]

06:44 PM on 10/28/2010

Soooo, you're thinking there are enough companies with a charitable streak to save the economy in the face of massive corporate greed? Lay down the pipe, my friend.

[PBOHIO]

06:44 PM on 10/28/2010

I'm going to assume that you were speaking "tongue in cheek".

[climbing panda]

08:31 PM on 10/28/2010

thank goodness someone recognized it as such.

[PotomacOracle]

05:59 PM on 10/29/2010

Or nail in head.

[cave mann35]

05:33 PM on 10/28/2010

Something like this is what every American that has the means should do. Investing in a city's infiltrstructure creates jobs, and it can truly be an investment where you can levy a tax, receive a tax credit. I'm happy to see this $80 Million going towards helping the middle class, instead of another negative ad to elect Rand Paul or Christine O'Donnell or Joe Buck, etc. If only there were more civic minded titans of industry (thank you Bill and Amanda Gates, George Soros, and of course thank you Living Cities!!)

[intotheabyss]

05:19 PM on 10/28/2010

A lot of mean spirited hatred on this thread so far. Stop blaming the victims! The real criminality is at the top of the economic food chain. Bless this organization for what it is doing. You are on the side of the angels.

[howitis]

05:16 PM on 10/28/2010

Wondering how many people posting hateful comments about this initiative have ever been in the situation of the people in these cities...

[barts]

05:27 PM on 10/28/2010

Apparently the bagger conservative crowd -you know, the ones who call themselves "good christians"- feel that people should pull themselves up by their own purse straps and get a job. The people who could benefit from this initiative should stop accepting welfare from our socialist government and just try harder.

[kallou22]

05:14 PM on 10/28/2010

Wow! a group that actually spends money to make a helpful change and not not buy a politician. I love non-profits. We need more of them.

[Nel Pineda]

04:47 PM on 10/28/2010

Stop this...this is socialism- Rethugs.

[VitaPerMusic]

05:44 PM on 10/28/2010

Actually, private charity is what most conservatives cite as the alternative to government redistribution when it comes to helping the underprivileged.

[Sharon Corcoran]

07:20 PM on 10/29/2010

I guess you have missed what is going on- Beck attacks on social justice-
These people paid taxes and still donated-
The rest can too-

[valeskas]

12:56 PM on 10/28/2010

Thanks.

[Steve1976]

10:01 AM on 10/28/2010

Minneapolis-St. Paul is a good investment. The others are cesspools.

[ScarlettMocha]

10:41 AM on 10/28/2010

got up this morning and drank your haterade I see.

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

02:26 PM on 10/28/2010

Love the haterade comment..wonder how such negative people can live with themselves....more than that I wonder how someone could live with such a negative person.

[PotomacOracle]

06:03 PM on 10/29/2010

F & F HATERADE. Priceless. Perfect. Better than koolade. I hope wikipedia picks this up.
Scarlett you are so FAB.

[Sharon Corcoran]

07:27 PM on 10/29/2010

cesspools- great the greater the need and we will have less cesspools-

[supportamerica]

09:45 AM on 10/28/2010

Unfortunately this money will probably be wasted or go into some bodies pocket. How many times do the people of this country spend money and have it go down the drain. These places will be built and in a few years they will look exactly like they did before. Look at Cabrini Green for an example.

Good luck to this group though. They are going to need it.