New CDP CEO tells Eastham board nonprofit focuses on housing, small businesses and child care

Andrea Aldana, who said she has been with the Community Development Partnership (CDP) since 2011 and is now the organization’s CEO, introduced herself to the Eastham Select Board on July 6 and described CDP programs that support year-round communities.

"We make sure that the people who live and work here can keep living and working here," Aldana said, describing the CDP’s twin missions of direct assistance to residents and systems-change work to remove barriers to local livability. She emphasized that the CDP treats housing as an economic development strategy tied to workforce availability.

Aldana highlighted services the CDP provides: free business counseling and training, access to capital through a microloan program that distributes roughly $200,000 annually across about 8–10 businesses, partnership-based housing development (citing a 46-unit Lawrence Hill project in Wellfleet), and the Homegrown child-care pilot that supports home-based providers with licensing assistance and start-up grants funded by the Kelly Foundation.

Board members asked how CDP allocates funding. Aldana said microloan decisions are made by a lending committee of regional commercial bankers under program eligibility guidelines; the Homegrown pilot selected roughly six candidates for grants based on suitability for home-based child care.

The board welcomed Aldana’s offer to meet individually with members, and staff noted the CDP’s website (capecdp.org) for additional information. No formal action or funding decision was taken at the meeting.