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John Eric Nelson is director of NCCED's Corporate Partnership Program (CPP). Funded as part of the Ford Foundation's Corporate Involvement Initiative, CPP facilitates market-driven, business case opportunities with community-based development organizations and minority entrepreneurs in joint venture business investments. (NCCED is the 32-year old national trade association for the country’s 3,600 community development corporations.) Mr. Nelson co-directs Wall Street Without Walls, which facilitates the provision of pro bono technical assistance from financial professionals to community-based organizations for transactions over $2 million. He also designed and managed the Small Business Opportunity Project for HUD to assist public housing residents plan and run their own businesses. Mr. Nelson graduated from Yale College and the University of Michigan where he also taught social psychology.