The Role of Community-based Organizations in Brownfield Redevelopment

Over the past 30 years, federal and state level policies and regulations began responding to the needs of communities by providing volunteer developers with liability protections, funding for cleanup, and technical assistance. In response to these policies, communities across American started transforming these long abandoned or underutilized sites into community resources. CBOs play a key role in these efforts.

CBOs have diverse missions that address a variety of issues typically relating to health, equity, poverty, and education. Though the mission, size, and structure of CBOs differ depending on the community and purpose, a CBO is generally more effective at tackling local needs because its staff and volunteers, as residents or business owners, have a direct stake in the community.

The CBO’s Role in the Brownfield Redevelopment Process

Due to the volunteer nature of many CBOs, these groups are often limited in their capacity to garner funding, take on wide-scale projects, or implement comprehensive programs. While CBOs are not necessarily incorporated nonprofits, community development corporations (CDC) usually fall into a tax-exempt IRS designation. CDCs typically evolve out of a CBO’s desire to implement a program or economic development
project that requires procurement of funding from public and private entities. There are three roles that CBOs and/or CDCs may assume in brownfield revitalization projects:

1. Community Advocate: residents and CBOs
2. Collaborator: CBOs/ CDCs seeking development partners
3. Primary Developer: CDCs developing a specific site

A CBO, and even an individual, can determine what type of stakeholder it is by considering what it is able to bring to the brownfields table—whether it be community support, skills such as organizing, outreach, and education, financial support, or, perhaps most importantly, whether or not the group owns or is seeking to obtain ownership of a brownfields property.