Episode 22: Dorothy Mae Richardson
Dorothy Mae Richardson was an activist that influenced community-led development. Dorothy Mae Work was born on May 30, 1922 to parents Ralph and Mary in Ft. Morgan, Colorado. Shortly after being born her family moved to Pittsburgh, PA. Dorothy graduated from Allegheny High School in 1940. This high school is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Right after graduation, she got married to Louis Richardson who worked on railways before he enlisted in the Air Force during World War II.
While living in Pittsburgh, Dorothy got really involved in her local dilapidated community. She was particularly interested in preserving and restoring the houses in her neighborhood, and she also saw homeownership as an important way to create a sense of buy-in for the community. In general, she was an advocate for safe, quality, and affordable housing.
She formed a group called Citizens Against Slum Housing aka CASH — their mission was to ensure access to affordable and safe housing for those who wanted it. Dorothy’s group CASH was revolutionary for that time and in 1968, CASH became the Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS). CASH was able to raise $750,00 in grants, and the NHS became the expanded version of CASH, and they were able to secure $1 million dollars to create homeownership opportunities and finance home repairs. This became a model for banks and was replicated in 300 cities.
This investment model, of having banks provide grants and aid to underrepresented communities that wanted to purchase homes, became bigger. In 1978 it went all the way to Congress where it became known as the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, known today as NeighborWorks America.
In April 1991 at the age of 68, due to kidney failure, Dorothy passed away at the Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.
Caryatid: Evelyn Harrison
Evelyn Harrison was one of the 2020 Dorothy Richardson Award Honorees. Evelyn lives in Washington DC and when she found out there were plans to sell her apartment building she made change HAPPEN! DC has a law that if an apartment building goes up for sale the tenants have the right to purchase option (known as the District of Columbia’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act ). In order to execute this, the building needed to form a tenants association. Evelyn gathered 200 signatures from her neighbors and formed an association saving their apartment building. Between the association that she helped create and now is on the board of, and the development manager that they are partnered with, they were able to get building upgrades such as upgraded laundry facilities, a playground, and even space where they can host community events.
References
Carter-Grant, Christina. “Dorothy Mae Richardson: Honoring the Woman That Helped Shape Community Development | Community Progress Blog | Center for Community Progress.” Center for Community Progress, 20 Mar. 2020, www.communityprogress.net/blog/dorothy-mae-richardson-honoring-woman-helped-shape-community-development.
Simms, Gabrielle. “Discover Some Little-Known Facts about the Woman Who Inspired NeighborWorks.” NeighborWorks Blog, NeighborWorks America, 6 Jan. 2017, www.neighborworks.org/Blog/Discover-the-woman-who-inspired-NeighborWorks.
Tsal, William. “Dorothy Mae Richardson, historical marker”
Clio: Your Guide to History. 06 May, 2020 https://www.theclio.com/entry/102705
Veit, Kristen. “Dorothy Mae Richardson, Community Activist.” CoUrbanize, 10 Feb. 2021, www.courbanize.com/blog/dorothy-mae-richardson-community-activist.
