Executive Director Jon Zimmer's Farewell Speech

It was late March 1965 and I had just completed eight weeks of intensive training in Baltimore to become a Vista Volunteer and participate in the war on poverty. On the last day of training I was told I had been assigned to a place called the Hill District in Pittsburgh and would be living in the Anna B. Heldman Settlement House. My primary responsibilities would be to recruit for Project Head Start and the Neighborhood Youth Corps.

The next morning I joined several of my fellow Vistas and began the trip to Pittsburgh. Driving through the Fort Pitt Tunnels for the first time we were stunned at the beauty and magnificence of the Golden Triangle, the Three Rivers and the surrounding hills. Our first stop was the Mayor's Committee on Human Resources, the anti-poverty agency where we met David Hill, the executive director, David Epperson, a senior member of the staff who subsequently became Dean of the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Social Work, and Phyllis Moorman (now Phyllis Goode), another staff member who went on to become an outstanding civic leader.

After a brief overview of the role of Vista Volunteers in Pittsburgh, we were separated and taken to our new living quarters. The Hill was pumping with life in those days and I was very excited about the challenges ahead.

At the end of our first week in Pittsburgh, all the Vista Volunteers received an invitation from Moe and Greta Coleman to attend a party at their home in Squirrel Hill. It was the first time I met Moe and was fascinated to hear that he was a member of the Mayor's staff and was also on the faculty of the School of Social Work. Moe subsequently became a dear friend, and as noted in the inside back cover of this report, he is being honored this year as the winner of ACTION-Housing's Award of Excellence. My boss during those Vista days was Mattie Addis, a wonderful woman and a great social worker who provided me with a real education on poverty and how it impacts people and communities. Mattie treated me more like a mother than a boss, which was very special indeed since I lost my own mom when I was only ten years old. She also made me feel good by saying I looked like the actor George Maharis, who was then starring in the popular television series, "Route 66".

Six months into my Vista service I met Bernie Jones, then Director of Community Improvement for the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA). Bernie was operating a special program in the Hill focusing on neighborhood improvements. He suggested that I submit an application to Robert Pease, URA's Executive Director, for a position as Bernie's assistant. After a brief interview, Bob offered me the position and I felt I had really "arrived" having obtained my first paid job at the most important development organization in town. I will always be grateful to Bob and Bernie for providing this wonderful opportunity to a 22-year-old kid with a degree in philosophy and religion (not much market value in that) and no experience. The next day I met Bernie's boss, Mel Seidenberg, URA's Director of Community Affairs. Bernie and Mel subsequently became very special friends. Both have since passed away, leaving a big void in my life.

Bernie Jones was one of the most creative people I have ever known and his two greatest creations were the Urban Youth Action Program (UYA) and the POISE Foundation. I remember sitting in Bernie's office at the Hill City Youth Municipality when he came up with the idea for UYA, a program that would be run by young people from the Hill District focusing on education, employment and community service. The adult advisors included Bernie, my good friend Richard Gillcrese, Vivian Colbert and me. Over the past 40 years, UYA has had a positive impact on the lives of tens of thousands of young people from neighborhoods throughout Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. It continues to operate today in full accordance with Bernie's original vision and is now serving more than 1,400 young people each year.

There was something else very special that happened to me while working at the Urban Redevelopment Authority. At the holiday party in late December 1966, I met Linda Bowser, a lovely young woman who worked in the downtown office in the Acquisition Department. We started to date, fell in love and on April 20, 1968 we got married. Last April Linda and I celebrated our 38th anniversary.

After six years at URA I was ready for a new challenge. While pursuing my master's degree in public administration at Pitt's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, I signed up for a Saturday morning class on community development. The instructor was Bernie Loshbough, ACTION-Housing's first executive director. After listening to Bernie for 15 consecutive Saturday mornings, I decided to give him my resume and ask about job opportunities. The timing couldn't have been better. David Bergholz, Bernie's top assistant, was leaving the agency for another position and they were recruiting for a Director of Supportive Services. I applied for the job and after a series of interviews with Bernie, Dave, and Paul Brophy, who was then serving as the agency's Director of Special Projects, I was hired. My first day at ACTION-Housing was October 2, 1972. One week later, Kathy Szwarc joined the staff and she is still serving the agency in superb fashion as our Controller.

I have always considered my work at the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh and ACTION-Housing as a continuation of my service as a Vista Volunteer. But ACTION-Housing enabled me to have a far greater impact on the problems of poverty and human suffering than anything I could have ever imagined. I thought, here was an organization that provided poor people with decent, affordable housing and a whole range of other services that could enable them to build more independent, secure and self-sufficient lives. And I was now on the professional staff of this organization and could help to shape its approaches to some of Pittsburgh's most critical problems.

During those early years at the agency, I was privileged to work with some extraordinary people including Bill Farkas, Paul Brophy, Roger Ahlbrandt, Cora Raiford and Terri Gould, and a young fellow named Tom Murphy, our future mayor. Bill Farkas, formerly the executive director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, followed Bernie Loshbough as ACTION's executive and Paul Brophy was appointed to the executive director position when Bill moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to head the Downtown Redevelopment Authority. A couple of years later Paul became the Housing Coordinator for the City of Pittsburgh and then moved to the executive director's position at the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Subsequently he was appointed as President of the Enterprise Foundation in Columbia, Maryland.

Roger Ahlbrandt initially served as our Director of Housing Development and Research and after leaving the agency for a teaching position at Pitt's Graduate School of Social Work, he rejoined us as a board member and then served as our president for several years. As noted on page 22 of this report, Roger passed away in 1999 at the age of 58 while serving as Dean of the Graduate School of Business at Oregon State University.

Cora Raiford operated a Homemaker Skills Training Program in Homewood-Brushton that provided area residents with instruction in interior design, dressmaking, cooking, arts and crafts, and related areas. She did an extraordinary job and continues to provide these services to the community on a private basis. Terri Gould served as our Director of Human Services for many years and added a whole new dimension to our programming. She is one of the most compassionate, caring and skillful professionals I have ever known, and she has left a permanent imprint on the agency. Terri retired in 1998 but remains actively involved with ACTION-Housing as a Board member and officer.

My own opportunity to become executive director of ACTION-Housing came in June 1977 when Paul Brophy left for his new position at the City. I was initially appointed as the Acting Director but obtained permanent status several months later after solving some serious problems that were affecting a number of our large housing developments.

My role as executive director of ACTION-Housing has been the most rewarding and fulfilling work experience of my life. During this period, my fellow staff members and I have had the opportunity to serve people with great needs and to empower them to change their lives in profound ways. My primary contribution to this enterprise has been to identify enormously talented and dedicated people, encourage them to join the staff of ACTION-Housing - and then have the wisdom to get out of their way so they could do their jobs.

My biggest single accomplishment as executive director was recruiting Larry Swanson to the agency in 1979. I actually had to recruit him twice because he didn't accept my initial offer, indicating that he had decided to remain at the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. Recognizing Larry's incredible talent I decided to call him again two weeks later to see if I could get him to change his mind. I simply told him that ACTION-Housing needed him more than the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and asked him to reconsider. A few days later he called back and accepted -- and the rest is history.

In closing, I would like to thank the Board of Directors and staff of ACTION-Housing for making it such a joy to come to work every day for all of these years and for supporting my efforts to make ACTION-Housing a very special place. I am also deeply grateful to the United Way of Allegheny County, our extraordinary foundation and corporate community and the many public sector organizations that are listed on page 32 of this report for the consistent support and encouragement they have provided to our organization during my long tenure as executive director. I also want to give special thanks to my friends and colleagues in the human services community who are on the frontlines in the ongoing battle against poverty, oppression.