Symposia & Special Projects

Building Assets for the Urban Poor by Design: Strengthening Urban Planning and Design in the Global South (2011)

In 2012, the Joint Center will wrap up its Ford Foundation-sponsored project Building Assets for the Urban Poor by Design: Strengthening Urban Planning and Design in the Global South and will release a report on the issue. The project consisted of three convenings, held over the course of one year, the goal of which was to explore new thinking on the role of urban planning in social justice and urban poverty reduction in developing countries.

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What Works Collaborative (2011)

The Joint Center is currently participating in a What Works Collaborative project with The Urban Institute. Working in conjunction with the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, the Joint Center will draft a framing paper that outlines the issues and highlight the gaps in research on key issues related to the supply and demand for mortgage finance. The paper will be prepared in advance of

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Moving Forward: The Future of Consumer Credit and Mortgage Finance-A National Symposium (2010)

In February 2010, the Joint Center hosted a two-day symposium that considered the future of consumer credit and mortgage finance in the light of the financial crisis and lessons learned from it. The symposium was supported by the Ford Foundation, Freddie Mac, and NeighborWorks America.

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Understanding Consumer Credit: A National Symposium on Expanding Access, Informing Choices, and Protecting Consumers (2007)

On November 28 and 29, 2007, the Joint Center hosted Understanding Consumer Credit: A National Symposium on Expanding Access, Informing Choices, and Protecting Consumers, with the support of the Ford Foundation, Freddie Mac, and NeighborWorks America. This symposium brought together leaders from the business, government, civic and academic sectors to examine the challenges of improving outcomes for consumers.

Read more about Understanding Consumer Credit: A National Symposium on Expanding Access, Informing Choices, and Protecting Consumers (2007)

Revisiting Rental Housing: A National Policy Summit (2006)

In November of 2006, with the support of the MacArthur Foundation, the Joint Center hosted a two-day rental housing policy summit in Cambridge, Massachusetts designed to reexamine rental housing policy, programs, and priorities. The symposium featured scholarly research on the nature of the nation’s rental housing problems, the government’s response to these problems, and alternative ways of engineering rental programs and policies suggested by past practice, evaluation research, and insights into the operation of housing markets.

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More Than Shelter: Bellagio Housing Conference (2005)

In May 2005, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Joint Center convened a four-day intensive gathering of top policy makers from four countries with similar housing challenges - Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, and Kenya - together with global experts and business leaders in housing and housing finance.

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Building Assets, Building Credit (2003)

In November 2003 the Joint Center, with funding from the Ford Foundation, Freddie Mac and the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, convened a two-day symposium: Building Assets, Building Credit. The symposium placed a spotlight on access to financial services as a gateway to homeownership and focused on the roles of savings, transaction accounts, short-term credit providers, and credit scores in impeding or facilitating asset accumulation for low-income individual and communities.

Read more about Building Assets, Building Credit (2003)