One of the more dynamic groups involved in community building was from PUSH Buffalo. This organization is a grass-roots self help and empowering organization involved in several initiatives.  PUSH Buffalo has established a Land Bank to purchase existing housing/lots, develop the purchases and then sell them back to the neighborhood residents (at modest loan rates).  Seeing a "food desert" in another neighborhood, PUSH Buffalo uses community energy to create urban agriculture projects and selling produce back into their neighborhoods.  Another group is taking in food wastes, composting this material and then selling the compost to other gardeners for sustaining funds.

http://pushbuffalo.org/