Jennifer Hawkins

Jennifer is the President and CEO of ONE Neighborhood Builders. She is a trusted and respected expert in the nonprofit community development and housing sectors and has emerged as a leading voice on the affordable housing crisis impacting Rhode Island.   

With over 25 years of experience within the housing and community development fields across several cities including Providence, Boston, New York, and San Francisco, Jennifer understands how to organize diverse partners and navigate an environment with unrelenting demand for scarce resources. She continues to prove her ability to motivate a talented team to generate high impact, coalesce around a shared vision, and drive forward results that improve the health of and equity in communities.  

Under her leadership, ONE Neighborhood Builders has made dramatic changes to address the housing crisis. She has led the building of a robust, statewide real estate development portfolio that will double the organization’s real estate holdings within five years. Jennifer’s collaborative and effective approaches to serve historically disenfranchised constituencies can be seen in her work; she has prioritized housing developments that will serve youth aging out of the foster care system, LGBTQ+ seniors, the formerly unhoused, and recently incarcerated individuals. She has prioritized building and construction approaches that include the adaptative reuse of a former church, modular construction, and a commitment to all-electric properties that maximize solar generation.  

Jennifer’s passion for community development can be seen clearly in her commitment to the work. Throughout her career, she has addressed issues of insecure and unaffordable housing by loudly championing bold reforms and transformative investments. She has revitalized and strengthened unsafe and physically blighted neighborhoods through collaborative partnerships and community engagement. Her work has made the lack of access to parks, healthy foods, and community services top priorities for community investments. She has helped tackle the most pressing housing and community health challenges in leadership roles at respected institutions including the Women’s Development Corporation in Providence, RI, Providence Housing Authority, Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness, Madison Park Development Corporation in Roxbury, MA, and Breaking Ground in New York City. 

Jennifer is currently serving as commissioner on NeighborWorks America’s National Real Estate Advisory Council, the Rhode Island Senate’s Housing Resource Commission, and the RI House of Representatives’ Special Commission to Study Housing Affordability.  

Jennifer serves on the Rhode Island Continuum of Care’s Board of Directors and the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Corporation Board. Jennifer served on the Town of Smithfield’s Planning Board from 2017-2023. 

Jennifer received her master of public administration from New York University and her bachelor of arts from Connecticut College. She has received executive leadership certificates from the Harvard University Business School and the Harvard University Kennedy School. She resides in Smithfield, Rhode Island with her husband and daughter.