Member of the Redevelopment Board
Bringing with him over thirty years of experience in Community Development, Urban Affairs and Housing, Jim returned to the Redevelopment Authority Board after an absence of several years
FOCUS:
How did you get re-involved with the Lancaster County
Redevelopment Authority?
SHULTZ: I had served on the Board back in the nineties, from about 1994 to 1998. Randy (Patterson, the former Executive Director of the Housing and Redevelopment Authorities) asked me to come back onto the Board before he left for a position with the City of Lancaster, so I was re-elected to the Board in February of 2006.
Q:
Are you a native Lancastrian, and if not, where were you born?
A: I was born in Philadelphia, but I was raised in Lancaster from the age of three.
Q: What is your
educational background?
A:
I have a master’s degree in Urban Affairs from Kent State University, and my undergraduate degree is from Franklin and Marshall
College, where I teach an evening course to juniors and seniors on City
Government.
Q: What is your professional background?
A: I served as the Deputy Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community Affairs in Harrisburg in the mid-1970’s, and then I was the head of Community Development for the City of Allentown from 1978 until 1982. I was also the president of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) here in Lancaster for six years. Currently, I’m the Development Manager and Team Builder for Charter Homes in Lancaster.
Q: What do you feel you personally bring to the Authority Board?
A: I bring an expertise in affordable housing from my experience at HDC.
Q: What do you
think is the biggest challenge facing Lancaster County today?
A: The (current) level of poverty in the city of Lancaster and the increasing poverty in the city.