Feasibility Analysis: The Development of a Technical Assistance Unit

Client
Common Ground Community Housing Development Fund Corp., Inc.
Faculty
Kathryn Morrison and Lawrence Murray
Team
Leslie Blau, Connie Casto, Nikki Fish-Freud, Kevin Lee, Jennifer Page, and Maxine Silent

Common Ground, a not-for-profit corporation that develops innovative solutions to homelessness, has received national awards for their remarkably successful approach to address the root causes of homelessness. Common Ground’s affordable housing model integrates comprehensive social and employment services with affordable and attractive accommodations. After heightened publicity, Common Ground has been inundated with technical assistance requests from national and international organizations seeking to replicate their innovative model. The Capstone team was asked to assess the feasibility of creating a formal technical assistance unit to meet this demand. The Capstone team performed strategic analyses to identify marketable areas of technical expertise and completed internal audits to determine the demand for technical assistance. As a result, the Capstone team developed a systematic approach for Common Ground to establish a technical assistance unit.