Community Partnerships

In addition to our own membership, the Lower Cape Cod CDC often collaborates with other local advocacy groups that provide an added level of representation for their particular town or service base.

United in our common interests and goals

Arts Foundation of Cape Cod (AFCC)

As Executive Director of the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, Lisa Hergenrother works with the many visual, performing and literary artists and cultural organizations that make Cape Cod their home. One powerful tool that Lisa and the AFCC use to promote Cape Cod’s arts and culture is partnerships, an approach that the Arts Foundation has honed to a fine “art”.

Recognizing that the CDC had created a strong program with its “New Markets for Artists” seminar, the Foundation offered to market the program to the larger Cape Cod region. With a two-year grant from the Cape Cod Economic Development Council, the AFCC has partnered with the CDC, the Falmouth Artists Guild and the Workforce Education Resource Center at Cape Cod Community College to offer “New Markets for Artists” Cape-wide. This partnership has resulted in local artists learning to market their artwork year-round as well as to the off-Cape community. Program participants were then included in an exhibit at the Cape Cod Museum of Art. Twenty-three Lower Cape artists can now add to their resumes that their work has been exhibited in a strong, regional museum.

Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fisherman Association (CCHFA)

The Economic Development Department of the Lower Cape Cod CDC is collaborating with the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association around an initiative to support the local fishing community. The Sustainable Fisheries Trust is being developed to link Cape Cod fishermen with dedicated expertise and financing aimed at sustaining their livelihoods and the marine fisheries they rely on.

The Sustainable Fisheries Trust concept comes at a significant time for the fishing industry. Marine fisheries and fishing communities in the United States face a perfect storm of challenges: depletion of resources—through over fishing, excessive by-catch, and habitat damage—rapidly increasing corporatization of the seas, and flawed public policies. The impacts of these problems are most severely felt by the rural coastal communities and fishing families that have for generations depended on the health of the resource. Extensive job loss, reduced wages, business closings, out-migration, and falling school enrollments are among the most visible effects. Without deliberate actions to improve the present situation, the nation’s marine fisheries and fishing communities are at risk of irreversible decline.

As envisioned, the Sustainable Fisheries Trust will establish an integrated infrastructure that links community-based fishermen to dedicated management expertise and financing. The goal is to build and sustain a healthier relationship between fishermen, the fishing community and the fish.

The Economic Development department of the CDC will complement the CCCHFA’s vision and expertise in the industry with our program development capability and strong relationships within the Cape community.

Friends of Chatham Affordable Housing (FoCAH)

Friends of Chatham Affordable Housing was founded in 2002 as a fundraising committee to support Chatham’s Housing Authority and Affordable Housing Committee. Its mission is to seek creative ways to increase both year-round rental and home ownership opportunities. As President, Lynne Pleffner is proud of what the group has already accomplished and emphasizes FoCAH’s commitment to keeping affordable housing at the forefront of public awareness in Chatham.

FoCAH was instrumental in realizing the potential for an empty commercial space on Chatham’s Main Street. With the Lower Cape Cod CDC working as developer, “The Courtyards” at Balfour Lane was developed into four two-bedroom homeownership condominium units. Three existing market-rate residential units on the second floor were not bought or altered, creating a mixed-income community. The project was made possible with private funds received through FoCAH, Chatham Community Preservation Act (CPA) monies, and a construction loan from TD Banknorth.

The project is an example of “Smart Growth” that works for Cape Cod: the building is located in the Cornfield Neighborhood Center (a designated mixed-use growth zone for the Town of Chatham), an existing building was rehabilitated, and sustainable building materials were incorporated into the design.

The units were sold to qualified households earning up to 80% of the Area Median Income.

Harwich Portuguese Men’s Club

In 2005, after observing the need for year-round affordable rental housing in Harwich, the Harwich Portuguese Men’s Club asked the Lower Cape Cod CDC to develop such housing on five acres of a nine-acres site owned by the Club. The CDC and the Men’s Club have worked diligently to craft a project that will respond directly to Harwich’s housing and environmental needs, while maintaining the town’s unique character.

Through a partnership with the Boston Architectural College’s Community Design Studio, the Lower Cape Cod CDC facilitated participatory community design workshops over an 8-month period, which enabled us to incorporate the ideas of local residents into our initial designs. We anticipate the construction of up to 37 affordable rental units. The units will be clustered into three neighborhoods, allowing for the preservation of some undisturbed green space and the creation of outdoor recreational areas within the 5 acres being developed by our organization. Preliminary housing and site designs focus on visual interest, privacy, sustainable building materials and features, appropriate scale, and responsiveness to the natural landscape.

Housing Advocacy Roundtable (HART)

The Lower Cape Cod CDC has recently reorganized its Housing Committee and, in the process, formed the Lower Cape Housing Advocacy Round Table (HART). The Round Table supports the education of and discussion among residents, housing professionals, and housing advocates on the Lower Cape. Round Table events are scheduled quarterly, and are organized by a volunteer Steering Committee with support from the Lower Cape Cod CDC. Topics vary according to local interests and needs, with the goal of increasing regional communication in order to refine existing and develop new strategies for affordable housing development, preservation, and management in each of the eight towns of the Lower Cape.

Massachusetts Aquaculture Association

The Lower Cape Cod CDC has partnered with the Massachusetts Aquaculture Association to raise community awareness about the local shellfish industry. Each month we will highlight a different Lower Cape Aquaculture Shellfish Farmer. Learn who they are, where they came from, why they love it and how they do it.
Meet this month’s Featured Local Shellfish Farmer.

Page last updated: March 16, 2008

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