Karen Jeske wasn’t even looking for a new job when the position of executive director for both the Neighborhood Development Corp. and the Community Housing Development Corp. became available. Now, she is excited to begin her new duties full time Jan. 1, with high hopes of continuing work of her predecessors as well as blazing a new path.

How did your new position come about?

I’ve been teaching at Iowa State for a number of years now, and while I’ve enjoyed teaching students about urban revitalization, I was starting to look for an opportunity where I could do urban revitalization. When the semester started this year, I had decided not to look for anything, and of course that’s the exact moment when a couple of different people let me know that Carol Bower (former executive director) had decided to change position and wondered if I’d be interested in applying. This was too good an opportunity to pass up. While I feel like I’m stepping into rather large shoes, I just couldn’t pass it up.

How did you first get interested in this field?

I’ve been engaged in urban revitalization for the last 13 years. I grew up in a small community, Eldora, that was facing some economic challenges, and the idea of what could be done to help people see the reinvestment potential in these areas that had been through a decline really interested me. So, that led me to get a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

What do you hope to bring to your new position?

The challenging and exciting thing for me is that these two organizations are in great shape. They had a wonderful leader for most of their history, Carol Bower, and these organizations are very well respected in the community. They do wonderful things and have a wonderful synergy between the two of them. That said, I hope to bring some new ideas to the table. I’d like to expand upon the synergy between commercial development and housing in the inner city. I’m not sure yet how I’m going to go about doing it, but I do think there is some more spinoffs between the two organizations.

What is the main focus of the two organizations?

These are two closely allied, sister organizations. They are both dedicated to urban revitalization work. The Community Housing Development Corp. does that primarily by advancing affordable housing initiatives. We do new construction and renovation of single-family homes for lower-income families. We also have an emergency repair program for seniors. Lastly, we also manage several properties. The Neighborhood Development Corp. focuses on commercial revitalization in inner-city neighborhoods. That organization works more closely with the city of Des Moines to identify priority areas. And right now, our priority areas are the east Grand Avenue corridor, the Sixth Avenue corridor and a Forest Avenue corridor, which was just instituted last year.

How does this organization encourage commercial development?

We act as a developer and a property manager to demonstrate to the private market that it is viable to do business and do real estate development in these neighborhoods. You could think of it as we’re priming the pump. We’re doing the kind of projects we’d like to see the private marketplace engage in. Hopefully, by doing a few of these and showing that they can be profitable, we can encourage the private market to take over and propose their own projects for these areas.

Why is the work of these organizations so important?

This is where people live their lives, and if we can improve the quality of their neighborhoods, it’s hard to argue with that as a goal. From a metropolitan policy level, it is a really smart and sustainable type of development to revitalize areas where we have the infrastructure and the investment is already made. There are already streets here. There are already sewers here. It is smart and conservative to reuse those resources rather than continuing to build on greenfield sites in the suburban areas.

What do you enjoy doing outside the office?

I love to read, cook, travel and I’m very involved with my church. One of my favorite areas is the Pacific Northwest. I love the climate and the access to both the ocean and the mountains. And the cities, Portland, Ore., in particular, is a wonderful city to visit. It has lots of great restaurants and a fabulous bookstore. I’ve been married for 17 years and I have a 5-year-old Westie. I love dogs. I don’t dislike cats, but I really love dogs. This is our second Westie. They are a very intelligent and loyal dog, with enough energy to keep life interesting without being a huge, 50-pound dog.

– Jason Hancock