Meet Dorthy Richardson

Meet Dorothy Mae Richardson, Founder of Neighborhood Housing Services of Pittsburgh.

As a lifelong resident of a distressed African American neighborhood in Pittsburgh, she led the formation of Neighborhood Housing Services of Pittsburgh in 1968 to create access to safe and affordable housing. “The solution,” she said, “was not to tear down the whole neighborhood….it was to fix the houses.” Ms. Richardson’s advocacy caught the attention of the Urban Reinvestment Task Force and served as the impetus for two very important community development programs: federal legislation of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 and the Congressional formation of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (now known as NeighborWorks America) in 1978. These programs brought resources to community organizations and created the community development industry as we know it today.