Annual Report

Check out our 2016 SCC annual report and learn how our members have been working and continue to work with the community to support socioeconomic, racial, ethnic and Somerville. Mass.

2016 SCC Annual Report

Studies Commissioned or Conducted by SCC

Our strategy and approach to community development is informed by a wide variety of sources including research studies, people in our neighborhoods, movements in other cities, and local organizations and partners. Below, we’ve included some of the written studies and reports that inspire our work. The list is by no means complete, as movements and strategies are constantly growing and changing and more is always being written. We encourage you to explore these materials and to contact people and organizations with questions.       

• Dimensions of Displacement: Baseline Data for Managing Neighborhood Change in Somerville's Green Line Corridor 

The Green Line Extension may benefit the City of Somerville in many ways, but it may also cause displacement of low- and moderate-income residents, finds this critical report released February 11 by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) in partnership with the City of Somerville, Somerville Community Corporation, Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP), Friends of the Community Path, and Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance. Read More

Download the full report or read the Executive Summary

• Union Square East Community Vision

Union Square is a neighborhood in transition. With the arrival of the Green Line, major redevelopment efforts, and a neighborhood plan in the works, local residents in Union Square East - the area between Prospect, Medford, South, and Washington streets - got together to think of ways to influence the changes that reflect their values and needs. SCC worked with neighbors, Davis Square Architects, and Enterprise Community Partners on this community vision. 

• Link Somerville Equity Standards

After meaningfully engaging over 1000 people to create and prioritize community principles for the Green Line Corridor through our CCP initiative, Link Somerville is excited to introduce the Link Somerville Equity Standards – a set of community-generated metrics for good development in Somerville with respect to local jobs, open space, mobility, affordable housing, and land use. The Link Somerville Equity Standards bring together different groups over a common agenda so that important work in our community is not done in isolation, but instead reinforced through collaboration.

• Somerville Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Strategy

This report was prepared for SCC by Reconnecting America, the Center for Transit-Oriented Development. The report analyzes and offers strategy ideas to address the major impact the new Green Line Corridor and Assembly Square T-stop will have on land uses and development.

• Project for Public Spaces - Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper (LQC) Placemaking in East Broadway

In 2011, the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance (MSGA) announced Great Neighborhoods, an exciting and innovative partnership launching in five Massachusetts communities. Through the generous support of the Barr Foundation and Ford Foundation, MSGA is partnering with local stakeholders and Project for Public Spaces (PPS) to create Great Neighborhoods that will transform the lives of more than 100,000 residents through economic development, transportation and environmental initiatives, housing development,design and planning. 

Great Neighborhoods worked with a coalition of community groups (Somerville Community Development Corporation, East Broadway Main Streets Groundworks Somerville, STEP, MAPC) and the City of Somerville to revitalize the areas in East Somerville along the Broadway Corridor leading to a renovated Sullivan Square and Assembly Square transit stations. This project and report presents many opportunities for economic revitalization and the creation of new public spaces in this community.

• East Somerville Initiative Report: Preventing Displacement (Spring 2008)

The East Somerville Initiative was a two-year, community-based planning process that provides a concrete example of how to involve residents in discussing and planning for the future of their community.  Over 350 people were involved in developing and implementing an Action Plan to "proactively improve conditions in East Somerville while taking strong steps to minimize the displacement of the diverse population of people who live here."

• Community Corridor Planning: Green Line Extension Through Somerville and Medford (June 2010)

Report on Summary of Results of the Community Workshop on the Green Line Extension Through Somerville and Medford