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James A. Johnson Fellows, 2001 FellowsGet to know our 2001 Fellows.
David Arizmendi, Executive Director David Arizmendi has been executive director of Proyecto Azteca in San Juan, Texas, since 1999 but has held a number of community and labor-related positions since 1976. He has served as director of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, the National Farm Worker Service Center, the American Federation of Teachers, Iniciativa Frontera, and the Azteca Community Loan Fund. Most of his efforts have been aimed towards strengthening colonias, the impoverished rural communities along the Texas-Mexico border, where about 500,000 extremely poor families live in dilapidated shacks, often without infrastructure or basic utilities. As the sixth of eight children, David moved around the country with his migrant family in search of work throughout his childhood. David encourages colonia residents to organize and work toward solutions for their families and communities. Proyecto Azteca is a nationally recognized self-help housing organization for colonia residents. David revived its mission and has helped its Self-Help New Construction Program build a record 62 homes per year with colonia families. To date, Proyecto Azteca families have built nearly 200 homes in 38 colonias. Colonia residents continue to be denied access to state housing funds, so David assembled a committee of residents to design a low-cost housing product. The "Cascaron House Kit" can be erected and habitable in one week for less than $10,000. Returning from California to Texas in the 1980s, David established the nonprofit Iniciativa Frontera, or "Border Initiative," a community-based service organization that enables other rural community groups to address the conditions that affect the daily lives of residents. With David's leadership, the organization gained approval for construction of a $3.2 million water and sewer system, facilitated grants for home improvement, paved colonia roads, relocated residents from flood-prone areas, established a self-help home construction program, and improved delivery of mail and electricity. David launched the Si Se Puede ("yes, it can be done") School Incentive Program to address the 80 percent colonia drop-out rate and encourage elementary students to excel in school, and he involved parents in the educational process. He organized and advocated for women who eventually won the right to receive formal state licenses for their home day-care centers in the colonias. He designed training on child development, CPR, and first aid and was successful in encouraging participation in the state nutrition program. Today, 165 colonia home day-care centers serve healthy meals to almost 1,300 colonia children in their care. He also organized food pantries and a variety of environmental programs.
Janaka Casper, Executive Director Janaka Casper has been executive director of Community Housing Partners Corporation (CHPC), formerly known as VMH, Inc., in Christiansburg, Virginia, since 1982. He has been in the field, however, since 1976, when he volunteered for a housing weatherization program and was inspired to devote his career to affordable housing. With his leadership, CHPC has grown from a single-mission weatherization program into a multi-state, rural and urban housing and community development organization, one of the largest such nonprofits in the country. In the last decade, CHPC's assets grew from $2.6 million to $50 million, and staff expanded from 47 to 230. CHPC has provided more than 75,000 low-income Appalachian people with multifamily housing development and management, homeownership opportunities, home repair and rehabilitation, construction, and services relating to architecture, energy management, at-risk youth, and enterprise development. Janaka increased the pace of single-family and multifamily construction and rehabilitation, established Section 8 rental assistance in two counties, created a Community Development Lending Corporation, and expanded operations into Florida. He guided CHPC in using tax credits and other financing instruments to make multifamily housing viable in both rural and urban settings. In cooperation with Appalachian Housing Enterprises, he secured a 10-year loan from the Virginia Housing and Development Authority. It contained a risky balloon payback period, but it now boasts $40 million in lending strength and has helped the very poor in mountain communities break free of predatory lenders and substandard housing. The Virginia model has spread throughout the state and can now be seen nationwide. Janaka developed Tekoa (from the Greek word for healing), a 16-bed facility for at-risk adolescent girls who have been removed from their homes by the courts. A similar group residence for boys opened in 2000, and both are enabling youth to live in safety while preparing for independence. Although there was initial opposition to the facility, Tekoa is now considered a community asset. In 1990, Janaka led an effort outside of CHPC to develop the Southwest Virginia Loan Fund, an unprecedented fund that has become a standard for low-income housing financing in the state. In 1995, VMH formed the New Enterprise Fund, Inc. (NEF), a new source of financing and technical assistance to create or preserve jobs for low- to moderate-income people. NEF also manages a market-access project, a microenterprise program, and an IDA program to link jobs to housing. Janaka is considered an "out of the box" thinker - a leader, teacher, collaborator, and mentor in the field of nonprofit programming. He has generously worked with many other communities and organizations, encouraging broader missions and creative partnerships. He is also a student, continually trying to learn more about the field and how solutions are being applied elsewhere in the country.
Pete C. Garcia, President and CEO Pete Garcia has been president and chief executive officer of Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) in Phoenix, Arizona, since 1984 but has worked for the organization in other capacities as well since 1972. During his years as president, he has brought the organization's asset base from $8 million to more than $100 million. CPLC, one of the original Title VII CDCs, is among the leading producers of single-family and multifamily housing in the nation and is a major employer of Mexican-American professionals in the state of Arizona. It is a statewide entity that serves migrant children, battered women, and people with substance abuse problems while also developing self-help housing and small business incubators. Recently, Pete oversaw CPLC's purchase and acquisition of more than 2,400 units of affordable multifamily housing. When he saw that many multifamily developments' mortgages were being sold, he and his staff worked with underwriters and financial institutions, including Fannie Mae, to preserve the housing by packaging several thousand units together with complex financing. The $80 million bond financing transaction will preserve the housing stock for working families and generate additional income for CPLC's general fund. Pete's leadership provides a comprehensive approach to alleviating poverty. CPLC has established credit unions for low-income families and served very low-income families through Low-Income Housing Tax Credit developments and rural self-help housing programs. In addition to affordable housing developments, including several Section 8 projects, Pete has initiated education, employment, training, and cultural arts programs; established behavioral health centers; promoted small business development; organized special community events; and provided financial, elderly, and immigration services to needy communities. He has received numerous awards and honors for his work. In his more than 30-year career, Pete also participated in the Intergovernmental Management Training Program at the Department of Health and Human Services and served as president and CEO of Valle del Sol. Now one of the most highly regarded and successful community developers in the country, Pete also advocates for consumers through his work with the Federal Home Loan Bank and Community Reinvestment Coalition and assists communities in the United Kingdom.
Francine C. Justa, Executive Director Fran Justa has been executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City, Inc. (NHS), since 1986. NHS of New York was one of the first members of the NeighborWorks network to receive funding - more than $2.5 million - from the CDFI Fund. Fran has raised $8 million for 10 community-based NHS programs and Citywide lending programs. She oversees a staff of 105 and manages operating budget and loan funds of $31 million. With Fran's leadership, NHS's investments for low- and moderate-income housing grew from $500,000 per year to more than $100 million in 2000. To provide access to capital for home improvements or ownership, she developed a mixed-use, multifamily lending consortium for buildings of 5 to 20 units, a size that had attracted the attention of few lenders. She oversaw the gut-rehabilitation of more than 300 homes and mixed-use buildings in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods throughout the city. Fran is considered a pioneer on many affordable housing issues. She developed a National Homeownership Campaign to target low-income borrowers and created the First Homeownership Center in the Neighborhood Reinvestment network, attracting $25 million in federal monies to fund such centers nationwide. She developed homeownership counseling programs and clubs, including a Latino program for Spanish-speaking renters, to prepare renters for ownership. She initiated NHS programs in immigrant communities. Recognizing that many residents needed assistance with home maintenance, she developed a Home Maintenance Training Center, which teaches hands-on repair skills to homeowners. She has replicated this model four times in 10 years. She developed the full-cycle lending concept, which ensures credit quality and provides maximum neighborhood impact through home-buyer education, inspection services, home maintenance training programs, and early-intervention delinquency counseling. As founder and president of Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC), Fran brought services and capital to a resource-poor neighborhood. She worked on community outreach and organized residents to establish the Committee. FAC has sustained itself to become a national model for comprehensive community-based development. Fran's doctoral dissertation focused on the effects of housing abandonment, resettlement, and displacement on community organizations. It presented a model that has been replicated by a number of organizations and has served as a guide to analysis and research on housing affordability and evolving urban communities. She has shared her experience with lenders, nonprofit housing developers, and NeighborWorks members. She has balanced direct-lending programs with education models that support and preserve the activities, and she has helped shape public policy by showing how these models work to stabilize communities.
W. James King, Executive Director Jim King has served as executive director of the Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation (WHRF) and as president and chief executive officer of Community Redevelopment Group (CRG) since 1997. In addition, since 1993, he has served as president and chief executive officer of King & Associates, which provides organizational training and technical assistance to nonprofit CDCs. Since 1980, he has served as executive director of Avondale Redevelopment Corporation (ARC), which seeks to revitalize an inner-city community of 20,000 residents. With support from Community Investment Partners (CIP), a locally funded comprehensive community development initiative, Jim is helping two very different neighborhoods work through barriers, identify shared priorities, and build capacity to work together. Under Jim's leadership, ARC has helped the Avondale neighborhood overcome the devastating 1968 riots that destroyed its commercial center and ignited a ten-year flight of businesses and homeowners. ARC has invested more than $25 million in housing and commercial projects, including developing 169 units of rental and homeownership housing and more than 80,000 square feet of commercial space. It played a pivotal role in studies and plans for the revitalization of business districts and facilitated a resident-led initiative for a successful Empowerment Zone. WHRF, a well-established CDC in an adjoining neighborhood, was in crisis when Jim took the helm. He formed the Community Redevelopment Group (CRG), which provides staff support to both ARC and WHRF while allowing them to remain independent entities. Jim helped develop a financial stabilization plan that preserved HUD subsidies and mended damaged relationships with community partners. He brought full funding to four projects in development, two of which are now complete. He initiated other projects, including acquisition and rehabilitation of the Alexandra Building, a historic, abandoned apartment complex that-with $12 million in financing, including LIHTC and historic tax credits-will provide 91 rental units for low- and moderate-income seniors. Site acquisition has begun for a commercial project on 14 vacant lots and underutilized buildings on Walnut Hills' main commercial street. Jim has served on the board of the National Congress for Community Economic Development (NCCED) and was its president for four years. During his tenure, NCCED grew from a three-person, $300,000 organization to a $1 million organization with a staff of 12, and his strategic plan increased membership from 125 to more than 700. He has also consulted nationally for the Human Capital Development Initiative, NCDI, LISC, and the Ford Foundation.
Christopher Kui, Executive Director Chris Kui has served as executive director of Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) in New York City since 1992. He has transformed AAFE from a small neighborhood-based civil rights and housing organization - with three staff members serving 1,000 clients per year - into the premier community development organization of the metropolitan New York area. With a staff of 50, an annual operating budget of $3 million, and a dues-paying membership of 5,000, AAFE now serves more than 20,000 clients annually. As executive director, Chris has helped raise more than $40 million to build 500 units of housing for low-income individuals and families and has secured more than $100 million in mortgage financing to help more than 1,000 families purchase their first homes. Since coming to this country as an immigrant 30 years ago, Chris has found that Asian immigrants are often mistakenly viewed as needing no help. He has been a leader and accomplished spokesperson for his own community and has successfully bridged the gaps to other cultures in New York City. Reflecting the diverse communities AAFE serves, a strong Latino staff works on the Lower East Side, while Korean and South Asian staff members work in growing Asian enclaves in Brooklyn and Queens. Chris has formed and nurtured numerous AAFE affiliate organizations, including a fair housing center, a health-care coalition, a CDC, and a community development fund. In addition, AAFE has developed several highly successful programs to provide assistance and capacity-building support to other nonprofit affordable housing organizations. In 1994, Chris proposed an innovative joint venture to Enterprise Foundation and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. AAFE would develop Renaissance Houses into 45 units of low-income housing and turn them over to a local Hispanic organization for ownership and management. This Asian-Latino partnership was the impetus for the subsequent El Caribe project, which won a Maxwell Award in 1999. In 1989, he and other community leaders founded an organization to help minority- and women-owned businesses gain access to low-interest loans and business training. Chris is now chair of the Renaissance Economic Development Corporation, which has become a certified CDFI, assisting entrepreneurs in three counties whose businesses benefit low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. In 1987, working in partnership with the Fannie Mae Corporation and the Enterprise Foundation, AAFE developed Equality Houses, the first project in the city to utilize Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. It provided a basis for the LISC/Enterprise Production Program in New York, which has created thousands of low-income units. Chris was selected as the first Asian American to serve on Fannie Mae's National Advisory Board. His extensive involvement in community-based coalitions, government task forces, and corporate boards includes serving as national chairman for the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development. 2001 James A. Johnson Community Fellows Selection Committee
Peter Beard, Senior Vice President
Stacey H. Davis President and CEO
Tom Downs Executive Director
John Kinghorn Director, Social Investment
Mr. Roy Priest Executive Director
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