Madison Park Development Corporation (MPDC) is a community development corporation that supports the well-being of Roxbury residents through developing affordable housing, promoting arts and culture, and providing programming for residents about community wellness, civic engagement, resident leadership, and public safety.
This summer, I am interning with MPDC’s Real Estate team because of my interest in Boston housing issues. I became interested in Boston affordable housing last summer while participating in the Boston College Corcoran Center Internship Program. As part of the Corcoran Center Internship Program, I attended bi-weekly seminars with my cohort of interns on topics such as real estate fundamentals, measuring for social impact, and case studies of Boston housing issues. As someone who has lived in the Boston metro area my entire life, I was eager to learn more about this social justice issue facing my own city. After this experience, I began working as a Research Assistant for the Corcoran Center. In this role, I assisted with campus events on resident-led urban development, mixed-income and affordable housing, and the politics of zoning reform.
Working at MPDC this summer, I have helped create a database for 120 of their housing units. I researched Boston’s “Complete Streets” initiative to learn more about pedestrian friendly streetscapes and techniques used in urban planning in the hopes of incorporating that into their Whittier Neighborhood Choice Initiative. I identified outside funding opportunities for their Ruggles Redesign Initiative by researching local crowdgranting. Last week, we visited a property in Quincy (my hometown) that had been recently converted into condos to get some inspiration for a property we are developing. When we arrived at the site, I realized the property we were visiting was my old middle school! It was so interesting to see how someone had the vision of converting Central Middle School into condos in Quincy Center while maintaining the important historical facade on the outside. Walking through the property was such a great experience because I was able to see how they restored a once run-down building into something new and useful. I’ve really enjoyed by experience at MPDC so far and I am looking forward to the rest of my summer here!
I am excited to learn more about the intersection of real estate and community development and for my upcoming senior year I have registered for classes such as “Real Estate, Community Development, and Urban Planning,” “Geographic Information Systems,” and “Real Estate and Urban Action.” Working at MPDC has solidified my interest in Boston affordable housing, and had set me in the right direction to pursue a career in this field after graduating college next year.
