Allyson Carpenter is helping to transform public housing communities in her role as vice president of development and Northeast/Mid-Atlantic regional leader for McCormack Baron Salazar (MBS), where she has worked for the past three years.

She has been instrumental in the Perkins Homes redevelopment in Baltimore and the East Adams redevelopment in Syracuse, New York. According to Carpenter, there are 21 phases between the two projects that will bring close to 2,500 new units of mixed-income housing to these neighborhoods.

“The revitalization [in Baltimore] is just staggering. To be able to be part of delivering new housing that is dignified, safe, and equitable for our residents and for our communities, it means the world,” she says. “Where people live is such a fundamental part of their overall quality of life. It determines so much about their outcomes—their access to education, health care, and so on. I’m happy to be able to play this small, but important, part in improving outcomes for our residents.”

The 28-year-old got her start in the affordable housing industry by studying community development at Howard University. That led her to working at the Washington, D.C., mayor’s office on affordable housing policy and then the D.C. Council Committee on Housing & Neighborhood Revitalization.

She says she believes deeply in the policy aspect of the work, cutting her teeth as the youngest elected official, at the time, in Washington, D.C. She’s active in Running Start, a nonprofit that encourages and trains young women to run for office across the country.

Carpenter started her current role as regional leader in March and credits MBS co-founder and chairman Richard Baron, president Vince Bennett, and chief development officer Adhi Nagraj for their mentorship and support.

“Oftentimes, people like me, young black women from low-income families, we’re often the beneficiaries of affordable housing. We’re the end user. Unfortunately, there are often too limited opportunities for folks like me to be on the development side,” she says. “It’s such an honor and privilege to be at a place like McCormack Baron, which has afforded me this opportunity to be part of reshaping communities like the one I come from. I’m really hopeful there will be more opportunities for people who look like me and come from neighborhoods like mine to play a role in shaping our communities.”

When she’s not working, you can find Carpenter outdoors hiking or cheering on Lebron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.