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Staff photo by Doug Koontz Laura Dupuy, as director of Lynchburg Neighborhood Development Corp., has been responsible for saving many at-risk neighborhoods in the Hill City. Here, she stands on the porch of a house on Monroe Street. |
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By Shannon Brennan The News & Advance For Laura Dupuy, anything that’s unjust is unsettling. Black children, for example, are 10 times as likely to get lead poisoning as white children, she said. That’s simply not fair. “It really is a justice issue to me,” she said. Likewise, obtaining mortgages from banks can be more difficult for minorities. But with Dupuy’s help, the odds are improving, both for children exposed to lead and people previously denied loans. Dupuy, who heads the Lynchburg Neighborhood Development Foundation, has used her skills as an attorney to help people qualify for home mortgage loans or to start businesses. She also heads an effort to eradicate lead from downtown houses. “She combines passion and leadership for housing along with considerable financing and legal perspectives that are very effective,” said Lynchburg City Manager Charles Church, who also serves of the board of the Neighborhood Development Foundation. In the last four years, $6 million in mortgages has come through the region thanks to Dupuy’s work at the foundation. “I’m associated with housing, but really I’m associated with money,” said Dupuy, who adds she could not be so successful without a supportive board. |
Laura Nevitt Dupuy
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Dupuy also helped secure
a $2.3 million federal grant in 1997 to remove lead from homes
where children are most at risk for lead poisoning. The grant,
payable over three years, will remove lead from about 150 of
the estimated 10,000 in Lynchburg with higher than normal levels
of lead. Since 1997, two houses have been cleared of lead and
another three are in the works. Dupuy also helped start lead education efforts in Tinbridge Hill and other neighborhoods when she arrived in Lynchburg nine years ago. She noted that 18 children in Tinbridge would be poisoned in the next three years if nothing is done. That figure is a projection from a survey that showed that 30 percent of children under 6 are poisoned each year in houses with lead. Young children are most susceptible to lead poisoning because they are most likely to ingest paint chips and because their nervous systems are easily damaged. In poor neighborhoods, they are also less likely to eat well. Exposure to lead is more dangerous when combined with poor nutrition, she said. “A high percentage of children are disadvantaged before they walk into school,” she said. Dupuy’s passion for lead abatement started the day she moved to Lynchburg. She transferred from the Legal Aid Society in Farmville to Legal Aid in Lynchburg in 1990 to fill a new position as a housing attorney. David Neumeyer, executive director of Legal Aid, said Dupuy was a great first choice to work on housing issues in Lynchburg. “The entire time she was with us she was creative and resourceful and persistent in helping community groups achieve their goals to improve housing,” he said. One area Dupuy particularly helped was Diamond Hill, he said, where she obtained incorporation and non-profit tax status for the group so they could rehabilitate housing. She also helped get a grand jury convened to bring charges against a landlord in Diamond Hill who refused to take action against tenants who were using and selling drugs. As a result of their efforts, the house was closed down. Dupuy brought attention to the lending practices of C&S/Sovran before its merger with NationsBank. In 1990, Sovran Bank and Sovran Mortgage Company rejected about 80 percent of conventional home mortgage applications from minorities. Denial rates for minorities at some of the area’s other banks ranged from 25 to 50 percent, far below Sovran’s rejection rate. Dupuy’s work made NationsBank much more sensitive to lending to minorities in the area. Dupuy’s passion for social justice came out of the 1960s. She cites the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. as the national events that had the most impact on her life by making her read more about the two leaders, particularly Kennedy. Great thoughts somehow get to us once they’re put out in the atmosphere, says Dupuy, who credits the spiritual writings of St. Ignatius as having a large impact on her. “I’m very motivated by my faith,” she said. Dupuy was born in Stuttgart, Germany and lived in seven states thanks to her father’s career in the Army, but spent most of her growing-up years outside Philadelphia. She graduated from New York University and ended up working for the Jesuit Conference in Washington D.C., where she met Walter Farrell, a Jesuit priest whom she says was the non-relative who had the most impact on her. “He balanced a conservative approach with compassion for individuals,” she said. While working in D.C., Dupuy attended law school at George Mason University at night. She was helping raise an 11-year-old sister. Her father, who was married five times, had nine children. While Dupuy said women most influenced her work ethic, her grandfather, R. Ernest Dupuy, also had a major impact on her life. He was a journalist for the Hearld-Tribune in New York and was in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Later, as head of public relations for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, he announced D-Day. Dupuy adopted her grandfather’s can-do attitude. Though divorced for more than 10 years, she adopted a little girl from Bulgaria three years ago. Dessi, now 5, is a mixed-race child. While living in Farmville, Dupuy said she couldn’t imagine having a mixed-race child. But in Lynchburg she found more tolerance and more interracial children. She never even stopped to think how tough it would be to be a single parent. “It’s very draining,” she said, noting she relies on friends to help her out. “I would recommend it for anyone, but it’s hard.” Susan Rusteck, who considers Dupuy one of her best friends, said adopting Dessi was good for Dupuy, who tends to get absorbed in her work. “So many people only know Laura as that strong, professional, almost in-your-face person,” Rusteck said. “She’s a very gentle and compassionate friend and person. She just lives justice.” Rusteck, who serves on the board of the Lynchburg Peace Education Center, nominated Dupuy for the center’s annual peace award. “What I really appreciate about Laura is she really works with the neighborhoods, not in any patronizing kind of way,” Rusteck said. Aubrey Barbour, who shared the 1998 peace award with Dupuy, agrees. Barbour has been a leader in cutting crime and cleaning up the Tinbridge Hill community. “I don’t know a better person you could find to work with neighborhoods than Laura,” he said. “No matter how busy her schedule is, she always takes time out to do what she can to help you.” |