CDC turns 30: Organization celebrates three decades of giving local people a leg up in business

[ Originally published on: Thursday, November 05, 2009 ]

Recorder/Paul Franz

Philippe Rigollaud, an owner of Pioneer Valley Photovoltaics (PV2), left, and installer Jon Parrott, second from left, talk to Amy Shapiro and John Waite of the Franklin County Community Development Corp. in the Venture Center where PV2 has grown from three employees to 15 in six years and will soon move into its new location on Wells Street in Greenfield.

The most visible 'poster child' for the Franklin County Community Development Corp. as it prepares to mark its 30th anniversary Friday might seem to be the former First National Bank building in the center of downtown Greenfield.

But despite the prominence of the $3 million redevelopment project, for which the CDC has been the lead player, the bulk of its work remains more hidden -- except for the hundreds of businesses it's helped through the years, through loan programs, technical assistance, business training classes, and 'incubator' space at its Venture Center on Wells Street in Greenfield.

The local economy in 2009 may be in worse shape than the one that birthed the CDC in the late 1970s, but there was enough pain at the time from jobs lost at factories taken over by large corporations that the focus shifted to helping the economy grow locally.

'Bigger isn't necessarily better,' says John Waite, who joined the CDC as executive director in 2000 with a background in the Peace Corps. 'I've never believed that. I've been involved in small business and community economic development for 25 years and 'Small is Beautiful' is my bible.'

Instead of focusing on attracting giant employers to the area -- a strategy that's been de-emphasized in economic development circles -- the CDC's emphasis has been, in the words of its mission statement, 'to maximize community control over our future economic destiny, and to expand opportunities for low and moderate-income residents.'

Especially given the mortgage foreclosure crisis, he said, 'I think we're coming back to that: you don't need to make tons of money, you need to live in a good community, to be healthy, you need to share a little bit, and your neighbor's welfare is a concern of yours. That's why we started.'

The agency will celebrate its 30th at its annual meeting Friday at the Hope and Olive restaurant in Greenfield.

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