Housing Center announces fellows

The Joint Center for Housing Studies, a collaborative unit affiliated with the Harvard Design School and the Kennedy School of Government, has named master’s degree candidates Connie Chung and Alastair Smith as its 2002 Emerging Leaders Fellowship recipients. Both Chung, an urban planning candidate at the Graduate School of Design, and Smith, a master’s degree candidate in the Public Policy and Urban Planning Program at the Kennedy School of Government, have several years of experience in community development.

Fellows will develop an analytical project based on 10 weeks of on-site research at the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp., a public, nonprofit organization that provides funding for this program. The mission of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp. is to revitalize older urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods nationwide by mobilizing public, private, and community resources at the neighborhood level and expand affordable housing opportunities for lower-income households through the NeighborWorks Network. Sponsored by the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp., the NeighborWorks Network includes more than 220 affiliated nonprofit organizations throughout the nation. The network conducts community development activities in more than 1,700 communities.

“Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation is thrilled to help bright young professionals apply their skills to the community development field. We fully support the Emerging Leaders Fellowship Program and are always eager to review the results of analytical study performed by the fellows selected by the Joint Center for Housing Studies,” said Ellen Lazar, executive director of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp.

Chung’s project will assess the challenges and opportunities of working with public schools as part of community development efforts, while Smith’s project will provide a critical appraisal of the role of mixed-income housing in neighborhood revitalization.

“We are looking forward to continuing to work with the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp., one of the nation’s foremost nonprofit intermediaries,” said Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of the Joint Center. “The fellowship will introduce students to the exciting work of housing and community development, while illuminating important public policy issues.”