NDC Presents the 2015 Robert W. Davenport Community Development Leadership Award to Bellone at the Wyandanch MTA LIRR Parking Garage Ribbon Cutting
August 13, 2015 (Wyandanch, NY) – National Development Council (NDC) presented Suffolk County Executive, Steve Bellone with the Robert W. Davenport Community Development Leadership Award. Bellone is the first ever recipient of this award and is recognized for his incredible work and single-minded focus on making the Wyandanch Rising project on Long Island a reality.
“I am honored that I have been chosen to be the first recipient of the Robert W. Davenport Community Development Leadership Award for the Wyandanch Rising project,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. “Robert Davenport is truly a committed community servant who has dedicated a large portion of his career to ensuring that underserved communities have access to the resources needed to alleviate pervasive poverty among its residents. The Wyandanch Rising project is an initiative which is aligned with the mission of the National Development Council and I thank you for finding me and the project a worthy candidate to receive this most prestigious award.”
Wyandanch is a hamlet in the Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, NY just 35 miles east of Manhattan and an hour from Penn Station on the Long Island Rail Road. Bellone’s focus has been to increase development and private capital flowing into Wyandanch. The Wyandanch Village development, the cornerstone project of the Wyandanch revitalization plan has spurred community revitalization, infrastructure investment in roads, sewers and a parking garage, and creates a transit oriented-brownfield redevelopment that will include affordable rental housing, planned public space, public services, and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.
“As a result of Steve Bellone’s leadership, Wyandanch is experiencing an incredible transformation, evolving from Long Island’s most economically distressed community to a national best practice model of community inspired smart growth, transit-oriented development.” Said Daniel Marsh Executive Vice President of NDC “I want to commend Steve and celebrate Robert Davenport whose legacy will live on through this award”
About the Robert W. Davenport Community Development Leadership Award
The Robert W. Davenport Community Development Leadership Award is a biennial award named in honor of retiring NDC President Bob Davenport, a nationally recognized community development advocate who has helmed the organization since 1986. Under his leadership, NDC has achieved recognition as one of the Nation’s most innovative and respected economic development organizations, credited with introducing leading-edge financing techniques and programs designed to increase the flow of capital into economically underserved communities.