FRONTLINES

Improving Lives, One Community at a Time

Urban Strategies is turning its attention to New Orleans and Camden, N.J. The nonprofit has a targeted approach to strengthening struggling urban areas. Healthy communities, it contends, require safe housing and good schools.

Founded in 1978, Urban Strategies has received ongoing support from the Ford Foundation, including funding for its plan to revitalize mixed-income neighborhoods in Camden, where two out of every three children live in poverty, and a public housing project in New Orleans, which remains mired in recovery challenges two years after Hurricane Katrina. Urban Strategies is working with local leaders in each city to identify specific community needs. The nonprofit provides a range of services including community planning and engagement, school improvement, and economic and policy development.

The St. Louis-based organization is the nonprofit arm of McCormack Baron, a set of companies that manages property and develops mixed-income housing. McCormack Baron has developed more than 16,500 housing units in 26 cities across the country over the past three decades. The relationship with the companies is one of the many public-private partnerships that Ford has supported over the years. The approach shows it is possible to make profits while improving people's lives.

www.urbanstrategiesinc.org