Affordable Housing

Curtis Fisher, a 2019 and 2021 Vision Fellow, is a 2018 MVRHS graduate who is now pursuing a dual major in Computer Science and Business Administration in the honors program at Northeastern University. As a Vision Fellow, Curtis has interned with the Great Pond Foundation on water-testing matters, and for Island Housing Trust, on the development of a database that can be used to identify suitable sights for affordable housing locations. While in high school, Curtis was involved with a technological initiative to develop and offer environmental testing solutions that allows low cost, real time testing of the Island’s complex water, forest and agricultural systems. In high school, among other things, Curtis worked on the school newspaper, was part of the MVironment Club, the Minnesingers, the SoundWave Acapella group, the Bell Choir and won science awards from a variety of local, regional and state-wide organizations.

As the founding director of the non-profit Island Housing Trust, my work is to provide hope and opportunity to island families and individuals seeking a dignified solution to their housing needs. The Island Housing Trust supports a diverse and vital community on Martha’s Vineyard by creating and sustaining permanently affordable homes, both rental and ownership. We believe in designing and building simple, durable, healthy, energy efficient homes that are truly affordable – to purchase, own/rent, and maintain. As part of my MV Vision Fellowship I participated in an 18-month NeighborWorks America Achieving Excellence program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. The goal of my program was to develop and implement a performance challenge to build organizational capability by strengthening the competence of my board, staff, and partners and to double our annual rate of housing production by creating a total of 180 affordable homes by 2020.

Faren Worthington, a 2018 Vision Fellow, conducted an Island-wide site suitability study for affordable housing development on Martha’s Vineyard. She collaborated with Chris Seidel, GIS Coordinator for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, and helped to establish a working geographic database for Island Housing Trust. She conducted research and established criteria for site suitability analyses and created metrics for diverse types of existing property conditions and types of housing development. Faren was a Project Analyst and Development Associate at Island Housing Trust. She is now Energy Technology Administrator at South Mountain Company. She has a B.S. in Natural Resources, Ecology Concentration, from the University of Vermont, and an M.S. in Ecological Design from The Conway School.