EcoDistricts Webinar Series: Centering Culture and Healing in Community Development

EcoDistricts is thrilled to be joined by Nella Young and Meghan Venable-Thomas of Enterprise Community Partners, for our next EcoDistricts Webinar on November 18th at 11 AM PST/2 PM EST.

Historically, the housing sector has evaluated community development impact through the lens of the number of units produced or preserved. However, research demonstrates that brick and mortar alone do not cultivate thriving, sustainable communities. Housing and community development without a comprehensive understanding of residents’ collective lived experience and inherent strengths have significant potential for harmful community disruption, cultural erasure, and perpetual trauma. By cultivating community development practices centered on resident’s culture, creativity, and healing, practitioners can fortify the inherent cultural knowledge, tools, and practices that make residents intrinsically resilient.

Resident participation, cultural leadership, and community buy-in are fundamental to successful projects. An inclusive process enables the project to be more reflective of community needs and benefits. Investing in trust-building with the community can also mitigate community objection and create momentum for future development processes. This saves time and resources, and increases shared ownership over public spaces, social accountability for upkeep and safety, and a sense of belonging for residents.

In this webinar, Meghan and Nella will share their lens on cultural resilience and talk about how advancing community cultural equity, stewarding organizational development with a cultural lens, and facilitating space and tools for collective healing can be part of how we define and invest in community resilience.