Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero has appointed retired community organizer Gloria Garner to complete a partial term left by a vacancy on the Board of Commissioners of Knoxville’s Community 
Development Corporation (KCDC). Garner’s term will conclude in June 2017.
“Garner’s experience and familiarity with the neighborhoods and agencies that we work with is invaluable to our agency,” KCDC Executive Director Art Cate said. “With nearly 40 years as an active community leader, her connection and insight into our residents’ lives will help us accomplish our goals of providing quality affordable housing and promoting self-sufficiency.”
Garner retired from the Knoxville Area Urban League in 2006 after a 38-year career. She began in 1968 as a community organizer to address social issues and provide case management in Lonsdale, Mechanicsville and East Knoxville.
She served as a housing and employment counselor to help individuals, many of them public housing residents, gain the tools to find employment. In 1995, she was promoted to employment and business development manager and was promoted to vice president of internal/external affairs in 1997.
“Through my longtime experience as a community organizer, I have knowledge of the community, and I communicated with a lot of agencies, churches and employers in those areas,” Garner said. “I will bring my resources to the table and would like to be involved with groups in the community to accomplish what KCDC needs to be done.”
Garner serves on several boards and committees, including the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Commission, Lonsdale Homecoming Committee and Midway Rehabilitation Board of Directors.
She was the 2002 recipient of the prestigious Whitney M. Young Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award for her service to the Knoxville Area Urban League. She also is a member of the Quarter Century Club of the National Urban League. She has been a finalist for the YWCA Tribute to Women and has received several awards from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Commission.
Garner is a longtime member of First Calvary Baptist Church in Lonsdale. She is the mother of five adult children with six grandchildren and great grandchildren.
She began her term on the KCDC Board of Commissioners on May 1.
KCDC’s Board of Commissioners oversees programs provided by the agency, including affordable public housing administration, redevelopment and rental assistance programs. Other board members are: Chair Daniel P. Murphy, professor of accounting at the University of Tennessee; Vice Chair Jacqueline Arthur, general manager of the Three Rivers Market; Dr. John Turner, retired senior vice president of education, training and diversity at the Tennessee Valley Authority; Dr. John Winemiller, law partner at Merchant & Gould; Bruce Anderson, general counsel at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital; and resident commissioner Phyllis J. Patrick, administrative assistant at Evergreen Presbyterian Ministries, Inc.
Since 1936, KCDC has been dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for the citizens of Knoxville. KCDC’s mission is to improve and transform neighborhoods and communities by providing quality affordable housing, advancing development initiatives and fostering self-sufficiency. For more information, visit https://www.kcdc.org.