Minding Your Business - Community Development Partnership

If you’re not sure what the Community Development Partnership does, it is probably because they do everything. 

Their mission statement is to lead “the Lower and Outer Cape in building a diverse year-round community of people who can afford to live, work and thrive here.” Note that they want to help people to be able to “thrive” here. In fact you could go so far as to say they help folks flourish. 

 “We can’t afford to lose the people who can’t afford to live here” is one of the CDP’s mottos. Creating more affordable housing is one arm of the mission. The CDP not only offers rental properties (with a waitlist, unfortunately), “we hold training and peer-to-peer learning opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials and town staff, technical assistance, [and] leadership development for aspiring advocates to help them attend and speak up at town meetings on affordable housing issues," said Chief Advancement Officer Laura Cannata. First Time Home Buyer Workshops through their Home Ownership Education program began in 2023.  

As I see it, the CDP believes it’s better “to teach a person to fish rather than giving them a fish.” And this philosophy is applied to small businesses, too. Workshops (both in-person and virtual) the CDP hosts include Quickbooks, ServSafe, Bringing Your Food Product to Market, Intro to Taxes for Artists, a Primer in Website and Social Media Reporting, and more. The organization offers micro-loans, which are low-interest business loans up to $50,000. 

“We also go to where people work, with our ‘small business assistance’ programs,” said Cannata. You can find them at Chatham Works, the 204 in Harwich, the Brewster Chamber of Commerce and the Provincetown Commons at different days and hours.  

Cannata also said that the CDP collaborates with businesses and town offices on the Outer and Lower Cape, and that collaboration is key to their success. Read their newsletters, chat them up, share what you read and participate in what they offer. All the workshops are held at no charge.  

“Come see our new location! Find out how we can help you,” said Cannata. The new location is on the far right in the Hilltop Plaza in Orleans.  It’s easy to find, so there is no excuse not to stop in today.