In this Next American City feature titled "Welcome to Your New Government," Detroit-based journalist Anna Clark examines the unique and increasingly powerful work being done by community development corporations.

This lengthy piece looks at the work of Detroit's Midtown, Inc. and Cleveland's University Circle, Inc. and asks what it means for cities when "local government relies on private organizations to turn around a neighborhood’s fate."

"With a remarkable ability to get things done in a city that has been on the brink of state emergency management, Midtown, Inc. has a reputation for being better at performing the role of government than government itself," writes Clark. "But what are the stakes of ceding public sector work to non-profits?"

"[University Circle, Inc.'s Chris] Ronayne emphasized that [his] interest in building vibrant neighborhoods is directly linked to [his] interest in cultivating vibrant cities. In Cleveland, University Circle bills itself as 'the neighborhood without borders,' as it works to provide security, transportation and marketing."

"As Ronayne sees it, the old world way of thinking is: Local-state-federal. That has slipped away. Now, he says, the thinking is neighborhood-regional-global."

Read the rest of the article here.