The policies shaped in Annapolis don’t always reach the communities that need them most. Moving capital from the statehouse to the neighborhood takes work few see and fewer invest in.
For Claudia Wilson Randall, executive director of the Community Development Network of Maryland (CDN), the priority is clear: “The work has to center on the people who will be impacted by the policies, not the policies themselves.”
Every legislative session, Wilson Randall brings that momentum to Annapolis. CDN’s priority is the state budget because it determines how much capital reaches the communities her member organizations serve.
“Everything we do is about access to capital for communities that don’t have it,” Wilson Randall said.
Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest in the country, but it faces a serious affordable housing problem. Over the past seven years, CDN has acted as the backbone of the Montgomery Housing Alliance, coordinating nonprofit affordable housing developers, service providers and advocates to lobby together as a coalition. Once they aligned forces, the money followed with more than $316 million committed since 2023 to create and preserve nearly 4,400 affordable homes through the county’s Housing Initiative Fund.
That mission grounds a network of more than 180 organizations across Maryland, including community development corporations, governments and revitalization groups. CDN provides members with training, advocacy and technical resources to deliver housing counseling, homeownership and workforce programs statewide.
This work relies on CDN’s partnership with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). By leveraging NCRC’s research and tracking of lending disparities, CDN strengthens its advocacy with data, giving practitioners a tool to reinforce their campaigns.
CDN applies that same connective approach to health equity by championing Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE). Developed at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, the model pairs a registered nurse, an occupational therapist and a handy worker for in-home visits helping older adults age safely.
A $4.1 million federal investment funded the program, with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimating $6.8 million in three-year savings from reduced hospital visits.
The economic landscape adds urgency as Maryland shed nearly 25,000 federal jobs over the last year.
Communities cannot survive on housing alone. They need jobs, services and investment. However, the conversations rarely happen across sectors.
“The work is so siloed,” she says. “It is difficult to get people to have interdisciplinary conversations.”
Breaking those silos is not partisan: it is the foundation of community development. Despite a two-thirds Democratic legislature, Maryland remains centrist, with rural, suburban and urban communities sharing the need for investment.
“I want people to lock arms with each other and stand together,” Wilson Randall said. “We’ve got to be clear about what the benefit is for people. Not markets. Not their credit score.”
With organizers in Baltimore City and Montgomery County and initiatives planned for Howard and Prince George’s counties, CDN plans to build infrastructure for local advocacy to make equitable community development a reality. For the communities it serves, that is what a just economy looks like in practice.
Aba Hammond is a Contributing Writer.
Picture of CEO Claudia Wilson Randall courtesy of the Community Development Network of Maryland.
