Raised in Dallas, TX, Maggie Parker began her community development training while completing graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her studies, she committed most of her time to helping local governments and non-profit organizations leverage public and private financing for real estate development in disadvantaged communities.
After earning her master’s degrees in public administration and city and regional planning, Maggie came home to serve as the first manager and later director of The Real Estate Council’s Community Fund in Dallas. Within four years, she expanded TREC Community Fund’s reach exponentially, to provide access to capital and technical assistance for real estate projects serving low-to-moderate income neighborhoods. During Maggie’s tenure the Community Fund — a certified community development financial institution (CDFI) — provided $3.1MM in loans, secured over $4.42MM in grants and lending capital, launched a new community development incubator and faith-based training program, and hosted Dallas’ first-ever real estate ‘shark tank’. In 2018, she led TREC Community Fund’s multi-faceted partnership serving three neighborhoods with five community-based organizations alongside the University of Texas at Dallas, bcWorkshop, Loveland Technologies, and 25+ consultants and canvassers to create a roadmap for equitable development in three Dallas neighborhoods, resulting in a $400,000 investment from JPMorgan Chase’s PRO Neighborhoods Initiative.
Through her comparative experiences across the U.S., Maggie recognized that a gap exists in the D/FW market for individuals and community organizations that want to pursue community-anchored development.
“With real estate, you’re building physical assets, but it really comes back to who is being impacted and how communities and neighborhoods are engaged in the process. In Dallas, we have incredible expertise in both real estate and community engagement, but a huge divide when it comes to linking that expertise to yield successful and sustainable community-driven projects.” In 2019, she founded Innovan Neighborhoods, embarking on a partnership with Matthews Southwest to execute her vision: to transform neighborhoods by addressing residents’ interconnected needs for physical, social, and economic stability while maintaining and celebrating a community’s unique culture.
Maggie is also a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and has studied at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Maggie is also an alumnus of the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs, a member of 2016-2017 Mayor’s Star Council, 2017 OFN Opportunity Fellow, and serves on the Board of the Texas Mezzanine Fund. Her personal interests include exploring Dallas, enjoying ethnic food restaurants, and attending live performing arts events.
