Earl Reynolds: a man for all seasons

Earl Reynolds has been the deputy executive director of the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority for the past 18 months. Previously, he was the city manager of Martinsville for 12 years. He is also a person I have personally been associated with since kindergarten. Our discussions always start with “how’s so-and-so doing” and then proceed to the topics of public management and policy.

Our latest meeting included lunch and a three-hour back and forth on a variety of subjects. One thing is certain -- we both recognize how our experiences attending segregated institutions -- the YWCA kindergarten on Orange Avenue, Harrison Elementary School and Lucy Addison High School - gave us a strong sense of community pride and belonging. Additionally, we both conclude that Addison High School was the most diverse environment -- based on class rather than racial distinctions -- that we have ever been engaged with.

Reynolds believes that these social experiences, in addition to graduate degrees from SUNY-Albany, have served him well as a professional public manager.

For instance, he notes that when he became Martinville’s chief administrative officer, the city was beginning a dramatic downward spiral as textile and manufacturing plants were closing because of the global economy. These economic enterprises were also the social glue that held the Martinsville-Henry County area together. When the plants closined, an economic and psychosocial depression set in.

One of Reynold’s strategic goals was to empower citizens in the process of reestablishing community life in Martinsville. Abandonment of personal and commercial property had become one of the obvious indications of the economic and social malaise. He cleared run-down and abandoned houses to spruce up residential neighborhoods. A vacated hospital was acquired and demolished. Funds were secured to build the Virginia Museum of Natural History. An abandoned factory in the center of town was razed. A water tower that hovered over a community was sold to the city with the proviso that the company would demolish the tower at their expense.

Reynold’s empowerment vision was “human rights over industry rights.” He encouraged community groups to organize and create partnerships. The Martinsville community, because of historical links to the furniture industry and a legendary advocate in the Virginia legislature, did not know how to effectively PAL (pool, ally, and link) with other communities. However, under Reynold’s stewardship, Martinsville became PALs with political and economic associations throughout the state and nation.

Since coming back to Roanoke, he has been instrumental in facilitating a cultural shift in how low-income people view public housing. That is, government housing should be transitional and not permanent. It should be a means to an end -- and that end is ownership of private property.

As such, Reynolds has been intensely involved in the community revitalization of the Lincoln Terrace housing projects. Now known as the Villages at Lincoln, 145 of the original 300 units have been completely renovated. Independent units are for sale and new duplexes are rented.

Both the physical design and social architecture of the Villages at Lincoln compliment the strategic objective of encouraging poor people to acquire private property. A process has been created whereby people can move from traditional units to duplexes and part of the monthly rental goes to an escrow account for down payment on an independent facility. In addition, if residents want to move from a traditional unit to homes outside the federal program, the RRHA assists with leases and contracts.

The Villages at Lincoln has become a model for housing authorities nationwide involved in HUD’s Hope VI Program. There has been a significant reduction in both crime and pathological behavior in the neighborhood. A strong culture of community pride and hope is now evident.

Reynolds is also expecting similar profound social and cultural changes in Hurt Park as well. RRHA’s capital plan envisions a dramatic transformation of the area. The agency is soliciting input from all major stakeholders -- residents of Hurt Park, residents of Southwest’s residential neighborhoods, police officers and the city’s planning commission -- on the evolution of public housing in SW Roanoke.

His management style incorporates cutting-edges theories and applications concerning the change process. For example, Mindy Fullilove encourages both the rapid reestablishment of familiar “places” to prevent disorientation and empowered collaboration. Likewise, Rosabeth Moss Kanter is the leading proponent of the PALs concept.

Yet the lessons Earl Reynolds learned in segregated institutions long ago also helps him be an effective “change master.” Socially sensitized to the self-esteem needs of marginalized people, he treats all people with genuine respect. He knows that their “place” in society has to be held in esteem by the larger society or else alienation will occur. He recognizes that collective self-pride hinges on healthy visibility -- not tragedy or disaster -- and the projects he has been involved with in both Martinsville and Roanoke have sought to enhance the self-esteem and self-efficacy of those disenfranchised.

Earl Reynolds likes to say “he is the sum total of all of his experiences.” His early teachers, most of whom are deceased, would be proud that he learned his lessons concerning social sensitivity and the respect for human dignity so well.