The Community Building Team is responsible for developing and implementing major initiatives and demonstration projects with the potential to improve social conditions; to promote racial equity and multicultural relations; to test new technical assistance methodologies; and to deepen our understanding of capacity-building work in communities of color.

The strategic goals of the Community Building Team are:

• To design and implement major capacity-building initiatives that can yield "cutting-edge lessons" for the community-building field.
• To develop and implement innovative demonstration projects in communities of color.
• To implement a business development strategy and effective project management systems to attain the revenue goals of the corporation

There are many communities in our country that have been ignored by mainstream society - marginalized by statistics and demographics that spell hopelessness and despair. NCDI recognizes that whether placed-based or constituent focused, these communities contain a wealth of talent, resources, and leadership that remain largely untapped. NCDI believes in the inherent viability, strength, and resiliency of such communities to orchestrate their own transformation, but knows too well that these localities often lack organization, access to decision-makers, and connection to resources to successfully tackle the complex issues that confront them. NCDI believes that change and empowerment can and do occur where there is a strong infrastructure of effective organizations with the collective capacity to:

• Establish clear goals and priorities;
  
• Develop and implement an effective organizing strategy;
  
• Build the capacity of and stronger relationships among community-based agencies;
  
• Do community research to identify assets, issues and opportunities;
  
• Develop and implement new program models and a multi-issue policy framework;
  
• Build relationships with key government and business stakeholders;
  
• Advance projects to scale to achieve maximum community impact;
  
• Maintain active accountability to constituents; and
  
• Establish clear standards and quality control mechanisms.

NCDI recognizes that achieving community change is both conceptually and practically challenging. As the community-building field matures, it becomes more obvious that conventional technical assistance providers are unable to address the complex capacity-building issues in communities of color.

NCDI has developed a unique technical assistance strategy to engage communities of color in a transformational process to develop internal capacity, improve existing conditions, reform institutional practices and achieve major policy change. The Community Building Team will undertake projects with the potential for strategic community impact and replicability in the field. Priority will be given to projects…

• that focus on underserved ethnic communities and constituency groups;
• that promote leadership development and community empowerment
• that develop sustainable community-based organizations;
• that foster knowledge transfer and skill building in communities;
• that build bridges across race, class, ethnicity and culture; and
• that restore venues for historical preservation and cultural expression.