Evelyn Friedman

Evelyn Friedman is the Executive Director of Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation in Roxbury, MA. Ms. Friedman has been actively engaged in community revitalization for many years and serves on a number of boards of directors involved in community development efforts.

Ms. Friedman has been the Executive Director of Nuestra Comunidad for fifteen years. During that time the agency has grown from two staff members to a staff of fifty-eight, including a property management company. Nuestra Comunidad's catchment area is in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan which are the lowest income communities in the City of Boston. Until recently the area suffered from all the devastation of the disinvestment such as vacant land, abandoned buildings, and lack of resources. However, the area has begun to change through the efforts of Nuestra and other organizations. Nuestra Comunidad owns and manages 750 units of low-income housing and 61, 000 square feet of commercial space. In addition, the agency has built or rehabilitated 150 homes, which have been sold to local residents. One year ago Nuestra completed the rehabilitation of a second landmark building in Dudley Square, the once thriving commercial district. Bringing 65 residents units and 25,000 sq. ft of commercial space to the Square. Nuestra currently has approximately 300 units of housing and 10,000 square feet of commercial space in development or predevelopment.

Nuestra Comunidad employs a holistic approach to community development and therefore engages in a wide range of economic development activities including small business development and lending as well as entrepreneurship development programs. Nuestra Comunidad has originated approximately $4 million dollars in loans for local small businesses through banks and other financial institutions. In an effort the spur economic development Nuestra has pioneered the creation of the pushcart business and has developed commercial kitchen incubator for local caterers and specialty food producers. Nuestra recently was awarded $1,000,000 in New Markets Tax Credits for small business lending.

Nuestra’s five year old Homeownership Center provides homebuyer and foreclosure prevention counseling and classes in six languages including American Sign Language as well as second mortgages for home improvement, mortgages loans for those in danger of foreclosure and foreclosure refinancing services. The Center has graduated 850 homebuyers, 375 of whom have purchased homes and has lent over $6,000,000 in second mortgages for home improvement and recently negotiated a $18,000,000 first mortgage program with Nieghborhood Housing Services of America.

One of the many programs currently being pioneered by Nuestra is an attempt to bring privately owned vacant apartments back into use by supporting homeowners in renovating and managing them.

Nuestra also recently became a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and is an affiliate of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation.

Ms. Friedman currently sits on the following boards: Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, Boston Community Capital (clerk), Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Shirley Eustis House, and Third Sector New England, Neighborhood Capital Corporation (president) and The Boston Private Industry Council.

Prior to her tenure at Nuestra Comunidad Ms. Friedman was the director of a number of agencies including the Hyde Park YMCA and the Massachusetts Restitution Program.

Ms. Friedman is a graduate of the Univ. of Mass and Boston College.