By Mary Ellen Mitchell
Economic and community development work is complex, involving ongoing communication with local, state, and federal government agencies, legislators, funding providers and partner organizations. But for Sarah Lester, president and CEO of Cornerstone West Community Development Corporation (CDC), the most important voice is that of the residents.
To help ensure sustainable progress, Lester and her seven Cornerstone West colleagues employ a strategy known as asset-based planning. “It’s about trying to listen to folks’ ideas and understand where they’re coming from, which allows us to start from a position of strength,” she says.
Lester brings “the ability to connect with all kinds of people and an uncanny knack for remembering details they’ve shared with her,” says her West Side neighbor and friend, Kevin Melloy. “Whether Sarah is on her bike, running errands or walking to a meeting, she interacts with everyone along the way. She maintains a multitude of diverse relationships and friendships, because she’s genuinely interested in others,” Melloy says.
“I love Wilmington, especially the diverse community on the West Side,” Lester says. “The residents on my block are of all different ages and ethnicities and come from a variety of backgrounds, and there are so many great spaces for us to interact.”
Grass Roots
Lester grew up on her family’s farm in Saint Georges along the C&D Canal and attended Wilmington Friends School. “My desire to give back stems from my Quaker education,” she says. After graduation in 2004, she attended Brown University in Providence, R.I.
She remained in Providence for four more years, first volunteering for AmeriCorps, where she provided youth services. She then moved on to coordinating farmers markets for Farm Fresh RI, a Providence nonprofit aimed at improving food distribution systems and providing fresh food to those in need. Some of the farmers she worked with transitioned their stands to brick-and-mortar businesses, an experience she found relevant to aspects of her current role.
In 2014, she enrolled in graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and earned a master’s degree in public administration, while interning for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support farming business initiatives.
Lester says her experience in Providence and Philadelphia helped the farm girl gain an appreciation for city life.
“Having the opportunity to live near and work with those who are different from us helps broaden our horizons and strengthen our capacity for understanding, which is, I think, vital to our survival as a species” she says.
While finishing her graduate studies in 2016, Lester attended a conference at the Wilmington Riverfront where she met Christian Willauer, the economic director of Cornerstone West at the time. Lester was curious about job opportunities in Delaware, and when a management position at Cornerstone West caught her eye, she wasted no time applying. “I competed against incredibly talented candidates,” she says.
“I was an outsider because I didn’t live in Wilmington, so I appreciate the chance they took on hiring me,” Lester says.
In just nine months, she was promoted to president and CEO, responsible for overseeing affordable housing development and the West Side Grows Together neighborhood revitalization plan, which was founded by Willauer to support small business development, improve housing choice and engage residents in community planning.
Restoring Hope & Pride
Cornerstone West, a division of West End Neighborhood House (WENH), was established in 1999 through a partnership with St. Francis Hospital to provide affordable housing on the West Side of Wilmington, one of several areas that fell behind economically when construction of I-95 in the 1960s displaced residents and businesses.
To make room for the concrete intrusion, 25 blocks of homes, businesses, churches, green gathering spaces and entertainment venues were demolished, leading to less livable and walkable neighborhoods on both sides of the highway, especially for those without a car.
This unfortunate outcome, combined with policy decisions and housing marketplace changes, led to steep and lasting population decline in the city overall, as many white residents relocated to the suburbs. Blocks with the most concentrated populations suffered from insufficient investment.
Many such blocks are on the West Side, an area which, for purposes of Cornerstone West’s economic development focus, includes the neighborhoods bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue to the north, Lancaster Avenue to the south, Jackson Street to the east and Union Street to the west.
For the past 25 years, with help from its partners, Cornerstone West has been revitalizing the West Side: from renovating vacant houses and building new ones — including special needs homes for young adults aging out of foster care — to renovations for senior citizens that enable them to stay in their homes.
In addition, Cornerstone West has built hundreds of affordable housing units for first-time homebuyers and helped create the Wilmington Neighborhood Conservancy Land Bank, an organization whose mission is to return blighted properties back to productive use. Many more projects are in the works.
Growing Together
Cornerstone West also provides financial and human capital to West Side Grows Together, a neighborhood coalition created to assist small businesses, establish and revitalize parks, playgrounds, and gardens, enhance public safety and create opportunities for placemaking and public art on the West Side.
Starr Wilson, real estate and housing manager at Cornerstone West, says, “There’s no formula for this kind of work, but Sarah is determined to bring people together to create sustainable solutions.”
A recent example of such effective collaboration is a project initiated with United Neighbors, an organization striving to reconnect the communities divided by I-95.
“Residents expressed a need for beautification, so Sarah brought in local artists and found the money, which is how the murals on the bridges across the highway came about,” Wilson says. “Neighbors say the art reminds them to focus on the positive aspects of their community.”
Lester’s background in agriculture lends itself to Cornerstone West’s support for the West Side Farmers Market, a joyful gathering where residents can purchase fresh, locally grown produce and products such as honey, herbs and tea, every Wednesday afternoon from June through October in Cool Spring Park.
Cornerstone West board member David Kim says, “One of Sarah’s strengths is that she puts the goals of others ahead of her own, which is rare in leadership. She gets things done.”
Lester says she owes much of her success to Willauer, now a city council member, and Paul Calistro, president and CEO of WENH, who have been supportive mentors.
“I’ve learned so much about community development from Christian, and I have great respect for Paul and the entire WENH organization. We’re all working together to provide affordable, necessary services to the West Side community.”
Bringing It All Back Home
When not at work, Lester is frequently outdoors, whether sailing in Lewes, gardening at home, or riding her bike with friends around Wilmington or in Old New Castle’s Battery Park and beyond.
One of her favorite personal pursuits is a storytelling initiative she created in 2018, called Wilmington Tales, a monthly gathering of friends, family, and associates.
“We rotate among different establishments in the city to promote small businesses while we’re at it,” she says. Each participant has six minutes to tell a story based on a monthly theme. “We have fun practicing the art of storytelling as we become more comfortable speaking in public,” Lester says.
More than nine years after joining Cornerstone West, Lester has lost none of her enthusiasm for the job, and for her adopted city. “I understand my privilege, and I often think about how fortunate I am to be on the path that I am, and that it led me back to Delaware is pretty cool.”
“I’m dedicated to supporting Wilmington to make it that much more of a fun and attractive place where people want to live, visit and vacation,” she says. “To me, the most profound aspect of this work is that we can help others see what’s possible.”
— To learn more about WENH and the positive impact that Cornerstone West and West Side Grows Together are making, visit: WestEndNH.org
Above: The diversity of Wilmington is one of its great appeals, says Cornerstone West’s Sarah Lester. Photo by Joe del Tufo.