Kairos Development: Breathing New Life into Underserved Communities

For the contemporary world, a trip to the grocery store is a routine part of life. However, for many historically impoverished communities of color across Maryland, it marks a significant breakthrough—untangling themselves from years of inadequate resources.

Thanks to the unwavering efforts of Kairos Development, new doors of economic opportunities are finally opening up for these communities through real estate transactions, paving the way for a more inclusive and sustainable future.

“Our mission is to seek and foster economic investment in the under-resourced communities of color throughout the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area,” says Vonnette Harris, founder and president of Kairos Development, who is steering master plans for the black communities in Maryland.

A proud minority and women-owned real estate development and consulting firm, Kairos Development remains mission-focused on improving the circumstances of underserved neighborhoods. It specializes in custom, quality housing solutions and redevelopment initiatives to prompt a massive reversal of misfortunes for the people.

Kairos Development has helped its community-based nonprofits and faith-based clients raise over $9.3 million for their various redevelopment initiatives, including a community resource center, housing rehabilitation projects, homeownership projects and site acquisition.

A notable example is Patapsco Pointe, a community-inspired, mixed-income and-use project that culminated with the formal adoption of the 2020 Cherry Hill Transformation Plan through a six-month master planning process. The project seeks to reverse the effects of previous government-endorsed racist housing policies that concentrated poverty, blight, disinvestment and obsolete housing in Cherry Hill. The aging and distressed Patapsco Elementary School building will be demolished as part of Patapsco Pointe and replaced with 120 brand-new, energy and climate-efficient apartment buildings.

Kairos Development was instrumental in assisting the neighborhood community development corporation (CDC) in organizing the master planning process and securing site control of a blighted school building. The project is in the predevelopment phase, and the company and local CDC plan to submit an application for a Low Income Housing Tax Credit by 2025.
It also helped the local CDC to raise over $2.3 million toward the construction and development of the project. Rents will be made affordable to families that earn from 30 percent to 80 percent of AMI, a first for the Cherry Hill community. Patapsco Pointe is also allocating space for the Maryland Adult High School that allows adults aged 21 and older the opportunity to obtain their high school diploma from where they discontinued their formal high school education. This will help remove critical barriers to achieving self-sufficiency for low-income individuals by creating pathways to sustained employment and further education.

Often, communities of color are stigmatized as extremely low-income and crime-ridden. Governments turn a blind eye if the population includes a significant number of immigrants due to the perceived lack of voting potential.

Harris, with over two decades of experience in the affordable housing industry, recognized this gap and dedicated her efforts to expand the economic development and investment opportunities for these communities. The same vision is ingrained in the company’s operations, driving its commitment to making a tangible difference in the lives of many families.

“We strive to uplift the spirit, culture and vision of the small community-based clients, aiming to drive investment and transformation for them,” says Harris.

Key to this effort is a participatory approach that reforms from within and radiates outward. Kairos Development offers management and capacity-building services to organizations and faith-based nonprofits to secure financing and hire third-party professionals for project completion. Steps are taken to train, educate and organize residents to advocate for themselves, fueling the resurgence of community power to attract support and investments. This inclusive strategy helps tailor developments to the needs and desires of each neighborhood. In a notable instance, a group of mission-driven individuals saw an urgent need to prevent the displacement of residents in a 15-unit building in Takoma Park, MD. The impending sale of the property threatened to convert it into condos, leaving the current tenants without affordable housing. Local officials were also dismissive, seeing the building’s rent control status as sufficient protection and deeming the small-scale case insignificant of intervention.

Kairos Development intervened, recognizing the need to humanize the situation and highlight the importance of preserving this community. It collaborated with tenants and various organizations to lead an extensive fundraising campaign. The company’s dedicated efforts helped secure the capital for the tenants to purchase the building, saving 15 families from displacement and empowering them with renewed stability and control over their future.

Despite development initiatives and areas becoming more gentrified, many segregated communities continue to struggle and only receive a fraction of the needed resources. With Kairos Development’s support, Maryland is steadily enjoying the luxury of quality housing and community pride. By embracing the transformative power of its mission in changing the stigmatized narrative of many underprivileged neighborhoods, the company has become a model of what dedicated, community-focused development can achieve.