The Dorothy Richardson Award for Resident
Leadership is an honor bestowed annually in recognition of outstanding
contributions by dedicated community leaders. The awards are named
in honor of Dorothy Richardson of Pittsburgh, a pioneer in the
community-based development movement who was the driving force
behind the establishment of the first Neighborhood Housing Services
resident-led partnership, the forerunner of today's NeighborWorks®
network.
Richardson
and a small group of her neighbors in the 1960s banded together
in a fight to save their dying neighborhood in Pittsburgh's Central
North Side. They recruited partners in local government and the
business community. Together, they won their battle and doing
so set a precedent that changed the nation's approach to urban
redevelopment and spawned the new field of community-based development.
The 10 recipients of
the 2003 Dorothy Richardson Awards for Resident Leadership were
chosen from Neighborhood Reinvestment districts. They are exemplary
successors to the legacy of Dorothy Richardson, who died in 1992.
The winners' stories
are shining examples of the difference just one person can make,
first, as leaders themselves and, then, by developing the potential
of additional new leaders through resident involvement. They demonstrate
why committed resident leaders are critical to building and maintaining
strong, healthy neighborhoods.
