Publications & Services

The site is searchable, and can also be browsed by topic area – from childcare to homeownership to legal issues. Resources available include papers on case studies and best practices, annotated web links, interactive discussions and industry “tools” such as how-to guides and ready-to-use forms and templates. Users can download a glossary of real estate terms, a guide to doing a ‘safety audit’ or advice on executive director transitions from the tools page, and papers that describe successful housing developments and police-community partnerships from the case studies page.


AlterNet - Other News
Tired of being told little to nothing by the established media news outlets? AlterNet, run by Independent Media Institute, may be where you want to go. AlterNet.org is an online magazine, information source and community that combines journalism, public-interest content, interactivity, advocacy and links to useful resources. With special concentrations on the War on Drugs, Media and Culture, Globalization, Environmental Health, and Human Rights, AlterNet fills in gaps in news reporting left by mainstream corporate media by doing its own reporting and providing alternative points of view, provocative opinions, hard facts, thorough research and a place for those ideas to be discussed.

Publications
Getting Back to Work: Employment Programs for Ex-Offenders, by Maria L. Buck, and Relative Strength: A Report on the Family’s Place in Workforce Development Initiatives, by Elisabeth King and Mark Elliott, are two new reports from Public/Private Ventures in their Field Report Series. www.ppv.org.

America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences, Vols. 1 and 2, by Neil J. Smelser, William Junius Wilson and Faith Mitchell, is a collection of papers covering compelling issues in the field of race relations. Published by National Academy Press. $49.95 hard cover; $24.95 paper. 560 pp. (Vol. 1); 528 pp. (Vol. 2). 888-624-7465; www.nap.edu.

Two new reports are available from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Low Income Housing and Services Programs: Towards a New Perspective provides an historical overview of low income housing linked with services programs, and A Report on State-Funded Rental Assistance Programs: A Patchwork of Small Measures explores the characteristics and funding levels of rental assistance programs supported solely from state or local resources. 202-662-1530.

Eliminating Credit Barriers to Increase Homeownership: How Far Can We Go? is a report from The Research Institute for Housing America focusing on what happens to homeownership rates if all borrowing constraints are removed, and how borrowing constraints affect renters’ expectations of becoming homeowners. www.housingamerica.org.

Using TANF Funds for Housing-Related Benefits to Prevent Homelessness, by Barbara Sard, is a policy brief from The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) reviewing the clarified definition of TANF “assistance” under April 1999 federal regulations. www.cbpp.org.

Marketing Workbook for Nonprofit Organizations, 2nd Edition, from The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, contains new marketing insights and information on using the Internet as a marketing tool. Kirsten Nielsen, 800-274-6024; kmn@wilder.org.

The Pew Partnership for Civic Change has a new website with information about what’s working to strengthen communities in five key subject areas: thriving neighborhoods, living-wage jobs, viable economies, healthy families and children, and collaborative leadership. www.pew-partnership.org.

Building Capacity: The Challenges and Opportunities of Asian Pacific American Community Development is a commissioned study done by The Urban Institute for the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (NCAPACD). It focuses on the needs and complexities found in the diverse and growing Asian Pacific American community. NCAPACD, 212-979-1108; www.nationalcapacd.org.

The Community Organizing Toolbox, released by Neighborhood Funders Group (NFG), details the achievements of community organizing groups nationwide in creating jobs, combating crime and reforming schools. 202-833-4690; www.nfg.org.

The Foundation Center has released an expanded The Foundation Directory 1 & 2 on CD-ROM. Profiles of the largest 20,000 U.S. foundations are available on the disk. Single-user version is $495; LAN version (for 2-8 users in one building) is $795. 800-478-4661; www.fconline.fdncenter.org.

A Guide to Careers in Community Development, by Paul Brophy and Alice Shabecoff and sponsored by the National Congress for Community Economic Development (NCCED), describes the range of jobs available in the field. It also offers advice on how to break into the field and career advancement guidance. Consuella McCain-Nunnally, NCCED, 202-289-9020; cmnunnally@ncced.org. (See the
Shelterforce

review
of this book.)

The Nonprofit Lobbying Guide, Second Edition, is a 144-page book from Independent Sector (IS) that gives a “jargon-free” explanation of lobbying for nonprofit staff and volunteers. The IS website contains extensive additional information on policy issues affecting nonprofit organizations and a listing of other publications. 888-860-8118; www.IndependentSector.org.

Good Neighbors: Affordable Housing in the Bay Area features several housing developments in the Bay Area and highlights three case studies that illustrate what affordable housing developments can contribute to urban neighborhoods. Available from the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California. $15. 415-989-8160.


Web Resources
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has set up an email listserv to report the latest breaking news on its campaigns. Send a message with “subscribe” as the subject to ACORN_Alerts-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe.