10 Nov, 2023

Own the Assets, Control the Story

with Shawn Duncan, Jim Wehner, Marvin Nesbitt, & Cynthia McNeal
Season 3,
  Episode 3
Place Matters
Place Matters
Own the Assets, Control the Story
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In the midst of rapidly gentrifying cities, people often ask us what can be done to stem the tide of rising costs and the displacement of legacy residents. As welcomed as more retail, nicer parks, and better infrastructure are for neighborhoods that have been historically denied these basic things, they are often evidence that longer-term, lower-income residents will soon be pushed out and that all this new development wasn’t done with them in mind anyway. So what do we do? For us, the answer lies in a having a robust acquisitions strategy. In today’s episode, Shawn will talk through the FCS acquisitions strategy with Jim Wehner, Marvin Nesbitt, and Cynthia McNeal.

Show notes

Shawn Duncan, Director of The Lupton Center
Dr. Shawn Duncan is the Director of FCS’s Training and Consulting Division, The Lupton Center. Shawn comes to FCS from the nonprofit leadership sector with research and writing focused on pedagogies for social impact. In his previous careers he has focused on multi-sector coalition building for community impact, content and curriculum design, group facilitation, leadership development, and immigration reform advocacy. As the leader of The Lupton Center team, Shawn brings a visionary voice for innovation, a strategic mind for resource development, and the leadership acumen to support and equip the team for success. He loves being a part of a mission-driven team that finds joy in one another while doing such important work.

Marvin Nesbitt, Jr., Senior Director of Community Development at FCS
Marvin Nesbitt, Jr. has committed his entire career to facilitating positive outcomes and success for society’s most vulnerable and the communities in which they reside. Today, he serves as Senior Director of Community Development at Focused Community Strategies (FCS). At FCS, Marvin teams up with a group of talented directors to lead the organization’s Neighborhood Engagement, Affordable Housing, and Economic Vitality efforts. Prior to joining FCS, Marvin has worked as an independent consultant providing his skills in human services and community development to numerous nonprofit, and government agencies in the areas of planning, implementation and evaluation of service delivery systems, community engagement, and the development and writing of HUD Choice Neighborhood Grant People Strategies.

Jim Wehner, President of FCS
Jim Wehner is a skilled organizational leader with more than 15 years of experience in neighborhood development in under-resourced communities, with a strong focus on creating, financing, and executing affordable housing and neighborhood-based small businesses. He joined FCS in 2008 as the Executive Director of our Mixed-Income Housing arm, and moved to his current position in 2014. He holds a Master of Arts in Divinity and Ministry from Reformed Theological Seminary.

Cynthia McNeal, Director of Mixed-Income Housing at FCS
Cynthia McNeal is a proud army veteran with over 20 years of organizational leadership and team management experience in the military, corporate, and nonprofit sectors. She joined the FCS team in 2005, and previously served as the Facility Manager, Property Manager, and Operations Director before stepping into her current role.

Resources:

Special thanks to our podcast editor, Tim Rhodes, for making this episode possible. If you are interested in working with Tim, you can contact him via email at tim@whistlingblue.com, or through his website, whistlingblue.com. If you have questions, feedback, or wish to contact us, please email Bekah Klein at bekah@fcsministries.org.