In 2000, the City of Lansing, Ingham Regional Medical Center, and the Ingham County Health Department (through a grant from the Kellogg Foundation) became partners in a year-long community-based strategic planning process known as the South Lansing Summit. The goal was to learn from stakeholders what they thought was needed to improve the overall welfare of their community, and ultimately, encourage agencies and municipalities to direct resources and conduct programs that meet those needs. 

 

More than 800 residents and community leaders completed surveys and participated in focus groups over the course of a year. Their concerns and ideas were compiled in a document called the South Lansing Action Plan, Given that the Plan was developed and fully supported by the community, Summit coordinators hoped that local decision-makers would be more inclined to allocate resources necessaray to implement the community's goals.

 

In 2002, Kathie Dunbar was hired to coordinate community development efforts identified in the South Lansing Action Plan. To guide her, Kathie assembled an advisory committee of Southside stakeholders. Two years later, she founded the South Lansing Community Development Association, and her initial advisory committee became the organization's first Board of Directors. In 2005, South Lansing CDA was granted 501(c)(3) charitable status, allowing the organization to leverage a wider range of resources to accomplish its goals.