August 3, 2006 Issue                                       

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Jimenez receives Presidential appoint for community work
by JENNIFER KATZ

Farah Jimenez

Farah Jimenez should be practicing law at a downtown firm, making six figures a year and living the urban dream. She attended the University of Pennsylvania for both undergraduate and graduate school earning a Bachelor’s in European History and a Juris Doctorate in law. But when talking to Jimenez, it becomes apparent that she is more likely to be found redefining tradition in favor of progress. Her seemingly contradictory roles as grassroots community development activist and Republican Party member garnered Jimenez recognition from President George W. Bush, who appointed her to the Community Development Advisory Board of U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund in June.

Born in Bridgewater, N.J., to Cuban immigrant parents, Jimenez “got the bug” for social service as an undergraduate at Penn in the late 80s. Originally she set out to become a doctor, but her volunteer work at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania left her feeling unfulfilled, she said. She ended up volunteering for the University City Hospitality Coalition providing free meals to the homeless. And that, Jimenez said, “got me jazzed up.”

It was her work with the homeless, she said, that brought the realization she wanted to have a longer-lasting impact. “It exposed me to the realization that it would be so much easier to try to stem someone’s decline than to fix it after it happened,” said Jimenez.

Jimenez is well known for her support of the President and Republican politics. In 2004, she was an outspoken supporter during the campaign serving on the national steering committee for Pennsylvania outreach. For Jimenez, straddling the political divide extends beyond her work. She is also married to a staunch Democrat, husband David Hyman. Hyman is a government relations and business law attorney with Kleinbard, Bell and Brecker in Center City. The pair met at law school and, as Jimenez explained, they share most of the same “values just not the same candidates.”

During a recent interview Jimenez discussed politics at home and at work, her recent appointment and her undying passion for community development.

What does this appointment mean to you?

I’ve always been interested in the policy side and I’ve served on many local boards. I see this as an opportunity to be at the table with people making decisions at the national level. The work one does is impacted by legislation and policy; it can either make it easier or harder. I learned that at the first job I ever had. I worked for the National Low Income Housing Coalition lobbying on a huge housing bill on the Hill. I remember talking to people in the field and them telling me that the biggest problem they face is that the people in DC have not done their work. I knew then that I wanted to learn the business from being in the field.

How did lobbying in DC lead to community development?

I became a government contractor for a company that had contracts with the Department of Housing and Urban Development working with the Hope 6 program, which was a program working with residents to improve public housing conditions. I met a group of women who were really leading a movement in public housing. They literally single handedly turned around drug-infested public housing in DC by confronting drug dealers. One woman, Kimi Gray, would take her chair and put it down on the corner where the drug dealers were working. Because she was a very popular person in the neighborhood people would stop by and talk to her and eventually it became impossible for the dealers to sell drugs there and they would move on. Many women started doing this and it evolved into the office of resident initiatives at HUD. They were similar movements in Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia (with Abbottsford Homes).

At some point you decided to go to law school?

I would talk to people about how to get into the policy side and I always got the same response which was “go to law school.” So I went to Penn, which was the best choice for me. They had a very strong social service focus and the atmosphere was not combative or competitive. It’s not a paper chase school. The other students were very supportive.

Did you think about practicing law?

I thought I would practice law. (laughter) Noel Eisenstadt was one of my professors and he convinced me not to be a lawyer. (Eisenstadt is the Executive Director of the Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia, a board member of Mt. Airy USA and a resident of Mt. Airy.) He told me that I “liked making the deal” where as a lawyer I would be inking the deal, but it would not be hands on enough for me. It was funny too because I went to talk to a career advisor at school and when I told her I didn’t want to be a lawyer, her response was “Oh, thank God!”

What, then, was the direction you decided to take?

I held out to find a developer who did urban community development. I ended up working for Community Builders, which is based in Boston. I worked in the New Haven, Conn. office and eventually moved to Philadelphia to open an office here. I spent two years with them and they really taught me the business.

And how did you come to Mt. Airy USA?

Someone told me about the executive director job. This was eight years ago. There were only two employees. (There are now 12 full-time employees and four temporary staff members.) The organization had been around for 18 years at that point. I remember I had my first interview the Friday before my wedding and then the second one was after my honeymoon. My first impression was that there isn’t that much heavy lifting. There wasn’t a lot of vacancy. There was a lot of under utilization. Germantown Avenue had so much service-oriented business with limited hours. There would be a dentist office that was open on Tuesday from 1 to 4 or something like that. It wasn’t vibrant.

What did you think the area needed then? And what do you think it needs today?

Our mission is still the same, which is the commercial corridor revitalization. We are focused on doing things like moving the daycares and hairdressers to the second floor or side entrance to make room for more businesses that will attract foot traffic to the area.

Do you intend to stay at Mt. Airy USA?

Oh, definitely. I want to stay. It still gets me jazzed. There is the opportunity to do so much. You can really transform the quality of life. We are reaching out to the community in different ways. It’s not just about making the housing much nicer. We want to improve people’s perceptions of their neighborhood.

Contact staff writer Jennifer Katz at 215-248-8804 or jenn@chestnuthilllocal.com.