For Immediate Release:
Press Contact:
Kyle McKendall
Vice President of Resource
Development & Communications
McKendall@nullonenb.org
401-489-0951
Experienced community and economic development leader to head nonprofit affordable housing and community development organization.
Providence, RI—One Neighborhood Builders (ONB), one of the state’s leading nonprofit affordable housing and community development organizations, announced the selection of Peter H. Chapman as its President and Chief Executive Officer. Chapman brings over 20 years of executive leadership experience building vibrant communities that strengthen regional economies. He will join the organization on February 3, 2025.
“Peter’s extensive experience leading high-impact housing and redevelopment projects and securing financial investments for complex community and economic development initiatives make him an ideal leader for ONB,” said Lorraine Lalli, chair of ONB’s Board of Directors and associate dean of student life and operations at Roger Williams University School of Law. “We sought a visionary leader who will champion our strategic approach and advance our ambitious housing development pipeline at a pivotal time for housing and community development organizations – and we found that in Peter.”
Chapman’s appointment concludes a national search led by ONB’s Board of Directors with the assistance of Bridge Partners Executive Search that began in August 2024 when ONB’s former president and CEO, Jennifer Hawkins, announced her departure after nearly a decade successfully leading the organization.
Chapman is an accomplished community and economic development leader and strategist who has leveraged billions in investments in several major U.S. cities and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He has a successful track record of conceptualizing and implementing large-scale, comprehensive, mixed-income residential and economic revitalization initiatives and taking on leadership roles within organizations operating in complex markets.
“There is incredible potential for One Neighborhood Builders to make an even more significant impact in Rhode Island and I am excited about this opportunity,” said Chapman. “I am impressed with the quality of the organization’s initiatives and its ability to adapt and evolve into one of New England’s leading housing development institutions, as well as the commitment to excellence demonstrated by the board and team.”
Most recently, for six years, Chapman served as the CEO of the UVI Research & Technology Park Corporation, a public-private economic development agency and independent affiliate of the University of the Virgin Islands. Under Chapman’s leadership, the organization grew dramatically, increasing revenues by more than 250% and launching new initiatives such as Tech Village in St. Croix, a more than $40 million mixed-use development that incorporates workforce- and market-rate housing and research and development space. The project, still in pre-construction, places a keen emphasis on supporting the growth of sustainable agriculture enterprises with the potential to stimulate quality jobs and improve food security for Virgin Islanders. The UVI Research & Technology Park Corporation became a best-in-class, nationally recognized institution under Chapman’s leadership. In 2020, the corporation received the International Economic Development Council (IEDC)’s prestigious Economic Development Organization of the Year award, the highest honor bestowed upon economic development organizations by IEDC. Chapman also operationalized The Virgin Islands Catalyst Fund, a revolving loan fund to incentivize projects of scale in the Virgin Islands and facilitate the expansion of technology and knowledge-based businesses.
“Peter’s financial acumen and experience securing capital needed to bring large-scale projects from inception to completion will be of immense value to One Neighborhood Builders as we look ahead at the potential development opportunities across Rhode Island,” said Lalli.
Chapman began his professional career in New England at the Boston-based Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations and the Madison Park Development Corporation. As an Urban Land Institute (ULI) urban fellow in Colorado, Chapman designed and helped implement the Real Estate Diversity Initiative Program, which is now a national ULI capacity-building module for emerging women and minority real estate developers. He is the Founder and CEO of Urban Policy Innovations, a national consulting practice that advises nonprofit community and economic development institutions, civic and philanthropic organizations, and public agencies on strategies and programs designed to increase the stock of affordable and workforce housing and strengthen and diversify local and regional economies.
Previously, Chapman was also executive vice president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation in Detroit, MI; deputy chief administrative officer/deputy mayor for economic development & planning for the City of Richmond, VA; the architect and founding executive director of a community development financial institution in Colorado; and the economic development portfolio chief and policy director for the Mayor of Denver, CO, where he helped spearhead two nationally-recognized catalytic revitalization projects: the Mariposa Transit Oriented Development Initiative under the federal Choice Neighborhoods program and the Uptown Redevelopment under the HOPE VI program. During his tenure with Cambridge, MA-based global consulting firm Abt Associates (now Abt Global), he was the lead author and researcher of one of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s early comprehensive case studies on public housing redevelopment, “Exploring the Impacts of the HOPE VI Program on Surrounding Neighborhoods.”
Chapman received a master’s in public policy with a concentration in macroeconomics and urban planning from Tufts University and his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University. He also completed graduate studies in real estate finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He currently serves as vice chair of the Center for Creative Partnerships’ Board of Directors in South Carolina and is an advisory board member of Washington, DC-based Renaissance Equity Partners.
As President & CEO of ONB, Chapman is tasked with leading the organization during a time of rapid growth and overseeing the implementation of ONB’s five-year strategic plan, Our Homes, Our Health, Our Future, released in 2023. This strategic framework cements ONB’s goals to build and manage high-quality, affordable housing statewide, invest in comprehensive community development in Central Providence, and to advocate for changes in policy and practice that advance its mission.
ONB currently has six developments in its construction portfolio that represent over $183 million in community investment and will add over 350 rental apartments and homeownership opportunities to its current portfolio of 460 owned and operated rental units. ONB has an annual operating budget of $11.3 million, and over $90 million in assets.
This spring, ONB will commence construction on Broad Street Homes, a 44-unit affordable housing development in Central Falls, the organization’s first in the city, and on the first phase of Center City Apartments, a 144-unit affordable housing development in East Providence, ONB’s largest to date. ONB has three additional affordable housing initiatives in pre-development including Sheridan Village in Providence, Steeple & Stone in Cumberland, and Del Toro in Providence.
Chapman will also oversee ONB’s place-based, collective impact initiative focused on the nine neighborhoods that make up Central Providence. ONB serves as the administrative backbone for the Central Providence Opportunities: A Health Equity Zone (CPO-HEZ), part of the RI Department of Health’s Health Equity Zone (HEZ) Initiative. This year, CPO-HEZ is celebrating its 10th anniversary and will release a revised version of the Central Providence Roadmap, its comprehensive, community-built collective impact plan.
###
ABOUT ONE NEIGHBORHOOD BUILDERS:
One Neighborhood Builders (ONB) is a nonprofit community development leader that improves lives across Rhode Island by building homes and connecting communities. They use their more than 35 years of practical experience in the housing and community development fields to test new ideas and challenge entrenched systems. Since its founding, ONB has developed over 480 affordable rental apartments, 140 homeownership opportunities, and 45,000 square feet of community and commercial space, reflecting over $145 million of community investments. ONB is the convening entity of Central Providence Opportunities: A Health Equity Zone (CPO-HEZ), a place-based collective impact initiative of more than 60 stakeholders across the nine neighborhoods of Central Providence. CPO-HEZ advances the shared vision for greater health and economic equity in the 02908 and 02909 ZIP codes.
