Lisa Chamberlain

03/13/2026

Today’s subway pic.

12/23/2020

Hear from small businesses who got New York Forward loans by working with NDC.

10/27/2020

The largest urban resilience organization got canceled in 2019 but Resilient Cities Catalyst is carrying on and applying lessons learned. The future of resilience is nimble, scale-able and crisis-agnostic.

“100RC focused on cities as the entry point,” says Michael Berkowitz. “With Resilient Cities Catalyst, we intentionally built in the flexibility to scale it up and down.”

Rising from the ashes: a new, more nimble organization that is applying lessons learned.

02/13/2020

Every now and then I get to put my journalism skills to use for my clients. Here is an Impact Look Book I put together for the National Development Council highlighting the humanity of NDC's economic and community development work.

01/10/2020

Year-end newsletter ...

LISA CHAMBERLAIN STRATEGIES FOR CITY BUILDERS As a business development and communications strategist for all things urban, I work with clients in architecture, urban planning, resilient design and economic development. This work is based on 20 years of experience reporting on real estate for The N...

11/12/2019

If you've even heard of , it's that they only benefit the wealthy. But that is not the whole story. investing takes time and effort and often doesn't get the attention it deserves. But it's happening in the State of Washington with the help of

The state of Washington is providing support so communities can move their ideas from concept to investment-ready projects.

11/12/2019

How to guide investment for : A new op-ed by the National Development Council in the Seattle Times points the way.

"To get this on the right track, our coalition turned to underserved communities themselves. We organized numerous Opportunity Zone (OZ) gatherings in tribal, rural and urban communities. We listened and learned from local stakeholders who identified priorities and heard advice about feasibility and pathways forward. These local sessions led to a larger event in Seattle, where project advocates sat down with potential investors — speed-dating style — getting feedback and guidance on the strengths and gaps of their ideas."

The state of Washington is providing support so communities can move their ideas from concept to investment-ready projects.

09/27/2019

The National Development Council worked for five years to help Scotland, a community in Potomac, MD — founded in the late 1800s by formerly enslaved people — to renovate the housing while maintaining affordability in one of the most expensive counties in the US. Read more ...

https://ndconline.org/2019/09/26/preserving-affordable-housing-and-a-community/

06/20/2019

I wrote an op-ed about the change in middle school admissions in Brooklyn's District 15. I didn't answer my own question in the op-ed directly, but I will here:

"Is the blunt instrument of a lottery the best approach to dealing with the complicated issue of segregation?"

No, but it is the quickest and easiest way to score a political win.

One parent asks: Do we really expect equity to come about by moving people around – equity achieved by adjacency?

06/06/2019

Crain's NY op-ed about designing and building the future of manufacturing in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Developing thought leadership for my clients is one of the most satisfying aspects of consulting.

June 6, 2019 By Matthew Putman and Vincent Lee Crain’s recently reported two statistics that seem unrelated but taken together say something significant about New York C