Collaboration, Working Together Across
Boundaries: The whole IS equal to more than the sum of the parts
June 29, 2005
James Capraro is Executive Director of Chicago's non-profit
Greater Southwest Development Corporation (GSDC). GSDC was designated by
the National Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation as a national "model"
for commercial revitalization and selected by the Chicago Local
Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) as the recipient of the 2001
“Outstanding Community Development Organization” award. GSDC’s
development projects range from small business development to the
creation of elderly housing, the siting of major retailers, and the $500
million expansion of the world’s largest bakery, Nabisco. Mr. Capraro
serves on the city’s “Retail Chicago” task force and the Mayor’s Special
Commission to revise the Zoning Ordinance. As a consultant, Mr. Capraro
has worked with several organizations and entities to create “visions”,
goals, and schema for community work. In 1995, Mr. Capraro was one of
seven Chicagoans selected by Chicago magazine as “Chicagoan of the
year.”
Frank Hagaman founded and serves as president of Partners In
Housing Development Corporation. His interest and involvement in
affordable housing development span the past 30 years. Hagaman refers to
himself as a “reformed banker,” having left that career to pursue his
passion for creating affordable housing. Relocating to Indiana in 1992,
Frank began his affordable housing activities with Historic Landmarks
Foundation in consultation on a major urban historic housing development
project in Indianapolis. This project preserved five community buildings
and utilized both Historic and Low Income Housing Tax Credits. He is
credited with writing the project plan for Indiana’s first federal award
of Housing Opportunities for People With Aids (HOPWA), which offers
capital and rental assistance. Since then, Hagaman has assembled more
than $25 million in resources to address the affordable housing needs of
Indianapolis. He founded Partners In Housing to “create or cause to be
created supportive housing opportunities.” Over time Partners has become
known as a developer working on behalf of the homeless and has
developed, owns or manages 300 supportive housing units in Indianapolis.
He is a founding board member of the Neighborhood Self-Employment
Initiative and the Coalition for Homeless Intervention and Prevention.
He is a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals in Indianapolis, and he
currently serves on the Board of Second Helpings.
Meg Easter-Dawson serves as the Coordinator of the Office of
Neighborhood Resources at the IUPUI Center for Service and Learning. For
the last 8 years, she has worked to support university-community
partnerships by developing mutually beneficial programs between the
IUPUI campus and its surrounding community. This includes identifying
and promoting service opportunities to engage students, faculty, and
staff in the surrounding community through service learning,
volunteering, internships, and community-based scholarships. Recently,
under her leadership, the Center has worked in partnership with the
Westside Community Development Corporation to improve Westside
neighborhoods. Ms. Easter –Dawson currently serves on the Board of
Directors of Hawthorne Community Center.
Olgen Williams is Executive Director of Christamore House. Under
his leadership, Christamore has created more than 65 social justice
partnerships, raised neighborhood trust and respect for the police,
improved community relationships with the growing Latino community and
worked to decrease infant mortality. Mentored youths take part in
workshops on conflict resolution, school respect and motivation, and
participate in community theatrical productions. In 2004, Williams
published Healing the Heart: Healing the ’Hood, a book that traces his
dramatic journey and the changes in his neighborhood - Haughville.
Learning both in the neighborhood and the classroom, Olgen Williams
earned two degrees from Martin University in Indianapolis: B.A. in
Religious Studies (Summa Cum Laude) and M.A. in Urban Ministry. He also
earned a Doctorate of Divinity from Muskegon Bible Institute. Williams
is also a nationally acclaimed community activist, a Vietnam hero, the
father of 10 children and a committed husband.
Mark Stokes is Executive Director of Westside Community
Development Corporation (WCDC). He has over twenty years experience in
housing program management and housing development. Stokes has been with
WCDC for ten years, overseeing all program activities. Under his
leadership WCDC successfully procured a $1.6 million HUD McKinney grant
to provide transitional housing and services to homeless families and
developed 83 rental units using Low Income Housing Tax Credits. WCDC has
been a leader in the HOPE 3 program, producing nearly 40% of the total
program production in Indianapolis. Utilizing a $2.25 million Community
Impact Award, WCDC has made major strides in commercial development,
neighborhood beautification, housing development, and training programs
for youth. Mr. Stokes has a M.S. degree in Economics from Indiana State
University and currently serves as President of the Indianapolis
Coalition for Neighborhood Development.
Joel Bookman currently serves as Interim Director of the Chicago
New Communities Initiative. He is also a consultant in strategic
planning, economic and real estate development, and nonprofit
management. His clients include neighborhood organizations, businesses,
institutions, foundations, and government agencies. Over the past 23
years, he served as the Executive Director of the North River Commission
and the Lawrence Avenue Development Corporation (LADCOR), and the Chief
Executive Officer of the Kimball Plaza Development Corporation (KPDC)
and the Mayfair Commons Senior Living Center LLC. Mr. Bookman is a
co-founder, past president, and past chairman of the board of the
Chicago Association of Neighborhood Development Organizations (CANDO),
and a member of the Metropolitan Planning Council. Mr. Bookman is a
master of urban planning and policy from the University of Illinois at
Chicago and currently serves as a Lecturer in Nonprofit Management at
the North Park University Graduate School of Business. |