Transition on the City’s Northwest Side | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Northwest Side CDC
August 27, 2019
Please join us in congratulating the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation’s Executive Director, Howard Snyder, who announced today that he will step down as Executive Director on December 31, 2019.  A transition process has begun to find a new ED; Snyder plans to remain active in community economic development.
Snyder has led NWSCDC since 1983 when he founded the transformative organization it has become. Since then, the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation (NWSCDC) has served the economic development needs of Milwaukee’s North Side communities. NWSCDC includes a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides a range of financial products for underserved market niches. It also seeks to partner with Opportunity Zone investments in its target market, and serves the community through economic development, community organizing, and strategic planning. Snyder established strong roots, and the NWSCDC is poised to lead the transformation of the Northwest Side of Milwaukee into a preferred destination for businesses and residents thanks to the efforts of Snyder, his staff, and it’s board.
Under Snyder’s leadership, NWSCDC launched several initiatives focused on leveraging partnerships and collaborating in business creation and real estate transactions. It has lent over $10 million to numerous catalytic projects on the City’s Northwest Side since 2000 that have created over 1,000 jobs. He led efforts to resist the closing of the Villard Avenue Branch of the Milwaukee Public Library in 2003 that culminated in an innovative design combining library and housing that the Milwaukee Public Library has replicated three times and has been copied nationally. The protest and successful rebuilding of the library was a topic he explored in his 2016 TEDx talk at UWM.
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In announcing his decision to NWSCDC staff, Snyder said, “Few people get to do in their careers what they seemed to be born to do. I think the secret to my longevity is that running the CDC was, and is, the pinnacle of my career. I never wanted to do anything else or go someplace other than Milwaukee.”
NWSCDC Board President Kirsten Thompson and the other board members will continue working with Snyder to ensure a smooth transition. The selection process for the next executive director will take place through this fall. “Over the next weeks, I will provide the board with an update on the process by which we will work with people in the community, stakeholders, and staff to select our next executive director. I will keep partners involved in the process well informed as we move ahead,” Thompson said.