Baye Adofo-Wilson: Building Resilient Black Communities: A Working Experience

Abstract

Considering the persistency and consistency of racial residential segregation in the United States, almost every historically Black neighborhood I have ever been to needed community-based, neighborhood-scale, culturally relevant, economic, and environmental programs and projects to improve these respective communities. Those activities are not necessarily easy to implement and require, at a minimum, sound policies, activism, non-profit partners, governmental leadership, and for-profit resources. Yet, collectively, those activities are necessary to build resilient Black communities in a country that has historically undervalued them.

My presentation focuses on my twenty-five-plus years of experience developing and redeveloping Black communities. Over the years, I have worked in the private sector and the public sector, as a non-profit director, as an organizer, and as a policy director. My presentation focuses on my experiences "working" as a for-profit commercial real estate developer/owner of Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ; as the Deputy Mayor/Director of Economic and Housing Development for the City of Newark, NJ; as the Executive Director of the Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District (LPCCD); as the National Co-Chair of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention; and as the New Jersey Director of the Regional Plan Association (RPA).

In all of these positions, I utilized my Cornell urban planning education to understand and tackle projects, programs, and policies. This presentation will hopefully provide students with some insight into the multiple types of work and activities urban planning students can use to improve their respective communities.

Biography

Baye Adofo-Wilson is a commercial real estate developer, lawyer, and urban planner. Recently, he completed the Hinchliffe Stadium Neighborhood Restoration Project in Paterson, NJ: a $110 million-dollar project that includes the restoration of Hinchliffe Stadium (a National Historic Landmark and home to Negro League Baseball teams), seventy-five senior low-income housing units and a 4,500 square foot museum dedicated to Negro League Baseball.

Mr. Adofo-Wilson was Newark, NJ's Deputy Mayor/Director of Economic and Housing Development from 2014-2017. Mr. Adofo-Wilson is a 2014 Loeb Fellow.

Mr. Adofo-Wilson was the Co-Founder/Executive Director of the Lincoln Park/Coast Cultural District, Inc., where he spearheaded a comprehensive, mixed-use community redevelopment strategy that included building USGBC LEED affordable housing buildings, urban farming, multi-genre music festivals, and green workforce development projects in a historic, low-income black community in Newark, NJ

Mr. Adofo-Wilson is a former NJ Director of the Regional Plan Association. He is also a US Army Veteran with degrees from Rutgers, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania.