IT ALL STARTS AT HOME
PROFILE
Townsend provides leadership for neighborhood improvement
STORY BY KEN DE LA BASTIDE PHOTOS BY RICHARD SITLER
During the course of the past five decades , Kim Townsend has seen dramatic changes in the local Black community . She also sees much work to be done . As the executive director of the Anderson Housing Authority , Townsend has the goal of providing quality affordable housing to families in the low-to-moderate income range .
She was born in 1968 and lived on Dewey Street until her father , Bill Raymore , secured a job in the administration of former Anderson Mayor Robert Rock . At the age of 4 , the family moved to Park Place , and she attended an integrated school .
“ It became a mix of experiences ,” Townsend recalls . “ I was the only Black child in my class , and when they taught about slavery , everyone was looking at me .”
When the local General Motors plants were hiring , Townsend remembers , homes on the city ’ s west side reflected pride of ownership and a sense of community .
As the factories closed and the jobs disappeared , residents could not afford to maintain those homes .
“ I was told in the eighth grade by my teacher to go to college , because you will not work at GM ,” Townsend says . “ That was years before they started pulling out .”
Growing up , Townsend experienced discrimination in Anderson but had an eye-opening experience while attending college in Tennessee .
“ Today discrimination is more covert ; when I was growing up it was overt in the community ,” she recalls . “ I remember my dad working to integrate Highland High School when the ( Ku Klux ) Klan demonstrated .”
Steps toward directing resources to Black neighborhoods have often gone nowhere , Townsend says , noting that in the spring of 2018 a neighborhood revitalization project called Sweet 16 ( a play on the area ’ s 46016 ZIP code ) was launched to improve quality of life in Anderson ’ s near west side . Partners in the project included the natural gas company Vectren .
“ The project never took off , but some of it was related to COVID-19 ,” Townsend acknowledges . “ I was never sure about that because we didn ’ t know what Vectren was willing to invest . We needed financial resources .”
8 2023 Diversity Magazine