The Centre for the Development of Community Assets (CDCA) is a private non-profit corporation working within the Canadian Urban Institute.

The CDCA brings together people, money and ideas to build the community assets that contribute to quality of life for the 80 per cent of Canadians who live in towns and cities. The CDCA focuses on building civic capacity through public engagement and community-based processes that people can trust.

Its goal is to halt the deterioration of the public realm and strengthen the public sector's ability to deliver needed community assets. Community assets include public transit, roads, sewers, water- and sewage-treatment plants, power-generation systems, transmission wires and pipes that convey everything from gas and water to voice, electronic bytes and digital information. They also include hospitals, libraries, parks, trails, arenas, recreation centres, housing for low- and moderate-income people, cultural and heritage resources and the natural heritage system of ravines, rivers, beaches, streams and wetlands.

The CDCA's clients are municipal departments, agencies, boards and commissions, other levels of government and the private sector. The CDCA builds public processes that people can trust. It works with elected officials, government staff, organized labour, community groups and professionals to build the political will required to sustain creative approaches to building community assets.
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