In the Spring of 2008, the Real Estate Department at Coalition for a Better Acre (Lowell, Mass.) successfully closed on the purchase of a former high school for redevelopment into affordable apartments. This purchase would not have been feasible without a favorable outcome for the development plans at the City of Lowell's Planning and Zoning Board Hearings. The Coalition's organizing encouraged residents to turn out in large numbers at both hearings to show their support of the project, a victory that brought a direct economic impact of new real estate investment in the community.

DASH for LaGrange (LaGrange, Ga.) partnered with the Juvenile Court to develop a community garden in close proximity to the senior cottages in the Hillside neighborhood. Adjudicated youth work in the garden twice per week, under the supervision of a Hillside resident, to make restitution and sell the vegetables to neighborhood residents every Monday and Thursday morning.

In its second season, the garden produced more than a hundred pounds of beans as well as squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and peepers. Almost every day, in the late afternoon or early evening, residents of the senior cottages gather to socialize and check on the garden.

One Gulf Coast Community Building and Organizing Initiative partner is Broadmoor Improvement Association, which made it a priority after Hurricane Katrina to track down every resident who lived in the Broadmoor neighborhood and ensure their right to return.

The organization has since launched a community development corporation, opened a charter school, built a library and activated hundreds of residents to rebuild their neighborhoods.