Community Development Project

Co-Directors:

Ololade Olakanmi: ( 319-594-0574) ololade_olakanmi@hks10.harvard.edu

Babak Mostaghimi: (617-821-1221) babak_mostaghimi@hks10.harvard.edu 

Who We Are & What We Do:

The Community Development Project (CDP) harnesses the academic and professional resources of Harvard University to facilitate civic engagement in economic development projects in underserved communities.

Our philosophy is grounded in a fundamental belief in the importance of locally driven economic development initiatives. We believe that success will be achieved when everyone, from community members to businesses and government, unites behind common interests and a shared vision for the future. As such, our goal is to bring people from all walks of life and from every sector together, see what the community wants for its future, and then work with everyone to build a vision of, and provide support for getting to, that goal.

The CDP Consulting Team is made up of Harvard Kennedy School students. We are diverse in race, ethnicity, and cultural heritage, and we all share a vision of America as a place where everyone has a chance to succeed. We are committed to making this vision of equal opportunity a reality. Most of us have a personal connection to communities in the South, and some of us have ties to the Delta in particular. We were drawn to Greenwood and Baptist Town because of their rich history and because we strongly believe that the residents of Greenwood and Baptist Town are in a unique position to shape their community’s future. Together, we will design a path to a better future for Baptist Town and for the broader community of Greenwood.

Our Vision for Greenwood & Baptist Town:

CDP envisions a Greenwood and Baptist Town in which everyone – from residents and their representatives to businesses and nonprofit organizations – works together to develop better homes, clean and safe streets, youth programming, and access to good jobs.

Our Mission:

CDP will work with Baptist Town residents to build locally driven partnerships and solutions that improve the quality of life within Baptist Town and Greenwood. We will achieve this by:

•Strengthening the ability of residents to advocate for their interests and achieve their goals;
•Connecting residents with local, regional, and national resources;
•Engaging the greater Greenwood community in the revitalization of Baptist Town; and
•Raising awareness of the assets and needs of Baptist Town, Greenwood, and the Delta region.
 

Dictionary of African Biography Project

General Editors: Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Executive Editor: Steven J. Niven: sjniven@fas.harvard.edu
DAB Website: http://tinyurl.com/African-Biography
(Read more)

African Genome Project

Directors:

Website:

 (Read more)

Director: Prof Dr Carola Lentz

Committee on African Studies
1730 Cambridge St, Rm S401
Cambridge MA 02138

617-576-9053

lentz@uni-mainz.de

Prof Dr Carola Lentz is a non-resident fellow at the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. She is in Cambridge this year as a Fulbright Scholar, and will work with the Du Bois Institute in pursuing her project.(Read more)

Director: Paula Caplan(Read more)

Working Group on Environmental Justice

Program Directors: James Hoyte and Timothy C. Weiskel

The purpose of the Working Group on Environmental Justice is to acknowledge and promote research and teaching on issues relating to environmental justice both within this country and abroad. The Group brings together a diverse faculty within Harvard as well as interested individuals from beyond Harvard to focus attention on these issues.(Read more)

Welfare, Children and Families: A Three-City Study

Director: William Julius Wilson

Address:
John F. Kennedy School of Government
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Phone: 617.496.4514
Email: juprp@ksg.harvard.edu(Read more)

W. E. B. Du Bois Society

Co-Directors: Dell M. Hamilton and Jacqueline Rivers(Read more)

  New Genetics and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Database Working Group

    Co-Directors: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelynn M. Hammonds

The New Genetics and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Working Group was convened for the first time in January 2006 and included the nation’s top scientists, social scientists, and historians who discussed the latest research in genetics and how to effectively use historical and social contexts to understand the origins of the Africans who survived the Middle Passage in the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the United States. This past year’s meeting included presentations by Marc Bauchet (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology), David Eltis (Emory University), Peter Forster (University of Cambridge), Duana Fullwiley (Harvard University), Linda Heywood (Boston University), Kenneth K. Kidd (Yale University), and John K. Thornton (Boston University).

National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute

Co-directors: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Waldo E. Martin, Jr., and Patricia A. Sullivan

Email: NEHINST@fas.harvard.edu(Read more)