A year of change after a year of change.

Like virtually every other company and organization, 2020 required the Avondale Development Corporation to pivot – dramatically – from its best laid plans. Last year also showed the resilience of the Avondale neighborhood, and the ability of ADC to adapt rapidly to an unforeseen pandemic. ADC was, after all, founded to help improve the quality of life for residents of Avondale. We just switched hats a bit.

Most telling was ADC’s modification of the Avondale Economic Mobility Fund from program designed to help at-risk Avondale families avoid displacement to one that made up to $1,000 available to any Avondale resident to ensure the availability of shelter, help them maintain social distancing, and access other resources. EMF funders included Fifth Third, First Financial, Greater Cincinnati Foundation and The Community Builders.

Nearly three months into the new year, we appear to be heading into better times with regard to the pandemic. And ADC is pivoting back – slowly, gradually – to its more traditional role of addressing critical housing needs in Avondale, creating jobs and economic opportunities for residents and leading organizing, engagement and advocacy efforts to foster a community of neighbors who know each other and work together for common goals.

In January, we welcomed a new board chair – Royce Sutton from Fifth Third Bank. Royce takes over from Henry Brown, who served ably as our board chair for the past decade. Tamara Lang from UC Health, Rosemary Oglesby from Rosemary’s Babies, and Adison Nelson from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have also joined the ADC Board of Trustees. Our board is indispensable to the success of ADC and Avondale, and we are fortunate to have such amazing leadership and such accomplished people to turn to for guidance.

In 2021, we are also updating our three-year strategic plan. The past three years have seen strong momentum at ADC and in Avondale, so the new strategic plan will largely follow the previous on. If it ain’t broke, as the saying goes.

Generally, we’re all looking forward to a return to normalcy. That means more resident engagement, more events, more progress on our housing projects and a deeper rollout of our Quality of Life plan. To paraphrase Winston Churchill with regard to the pandemic, while we may not be at the beginning of the end, we are most assuredly at the end of the beginning.