Not an easy thing to do. From stereotypes to misunderstandings, many people fight, or are apathetic toward, one of the key things that would add vibrancy to their community: diverse housing options.

Thank goodness for communities like Medway in the Metrowest area who are pushing back on the resistance to build support for affordable housing. By reinvigorating their Affordable Housing Committee and establishing a Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, Medway has identified key stakeholders who are developing a smart road map to guide the creation of new affordable units in town.

Several residents, with the support of Medway’s Coordinator of Planning and Economic Development, have given an extraordinary amount of time to develop a Housing Planned Production Plan, update the town’s affordable housing section in the Master Plan, as well as create a five-year plan for the Housing Trust. This past spring, they succeeded in receiving $433,000 from Town Meeting to fund the first year of their Affordable Housing Trust!

Salon gives Citigroup an "F" on their Corporate Citizenship Challenge . "The company doesn’t pay its fair share of taxes, rewards its executives with exorbitant compensation, played a key role in crashing the U.S. economy and has abusively manipulated the foreclosure process," says author Andrew Leonard.

And, on top of all that, Citibank remains the only major bank in Massachusetts without a competitive affordable mortgage product, thanks to its refusal to join the SoftSecond program.