Next City Straw Hut Media

Just over a year ago, we delved into a groundbreaking initiative by a foundation in Vancouver. Their question was: What if we gave people experiencing homelessness a lump sum of cash, no strings attached? The results were nothing short of remarkable — though they probably shouldn’t be surprising. Now, two years after that experiment ended, the idea is spreading to cities across the United States. So let’s revisit that initial episode — when we asked, what really happens when you give money to people experiencing homelessness?

Leaders from Lexington, Kentucky share lessons about what’s working as they foster collaboration and nonpartisanship in a city that’s solving problems like community engagement and closing the racial wealth gap.

We’re going to hear about how looking at transit from the human perspective almost always serves the greatest number of people and how it's really us who should be making decisions about the future of transit.

America’s biggest test of a “mobility wallet” is in South L.A. where residents were given cash each month to cover their transit needs.

A future with plentiful affordable housing won’t come from an industry where fewer than 5% of the real estate developers are minorities. Here’s what’s being done to change.

This episode is part of our series, CDFI Futures, which explores the community development finance industry through the lenses of equity, public policy and inclusive community development. The series is generously supported by Partners for the Common Good. Sign up for PCG’s CapNexus newsletter at capnexus.org. 

Today, we will hear from multiple Chinatown organizers who are fighting to ensure their neighborhoods remain for generations to come.