Work that Builds Communities
Lasting change in housing doesn’t happen alone. It happens when universities, community organizations, public agencies, and developers commit to building something together. Keith has spent his career forming those partnerships: serving as a mentor for the Southern University Neighborhood Developers Program, bringing the housing community together for Louisiana’s first statewide housing conference, partnering with the Middle Tennessee Urban League to create a developers program, and advising the Capital Area Transit System (CATS) as a consultant. Each project reflects the same belief that guides Keystone Connects: when the right people are connected, communities grow stronger.
Mentoring the Next Generation of Neighborhood Developers
Southern University’s Creating Neighborhood Developers Program is a ten-week training led by the university’s EDA University Center, teaching residents to acquire adjudicated properties in their own neighborhoods and treat revitalization as an entrepreneurial venture. The curriculum covers property acquisition, development and construction, licensing, and permits. As a mentor, Keith shared his experience in housing finance and public-purpose investment, helping participants turn training into viable projects. He guided emerging developers through the financing, approvals, and partnerships that move a project from idea to reality, and he gave them a view of how these decisions are made from the agency side of the table.
Convening Louisiana's Housing Community
As Executive Director of the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency, Keith created the state’s first statewide housing conference, held in Baton Rouge. The event brought together stakeholders from across Louisiana, including developers, Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs), and financial lending institutions, giving the people who build and fund housing a single place to connect, learn, and collaborate. The conference also offered continuing education credit for realtors, extending its value to the professionals who help families find and keep homes.
Advising Public Transit Leadership
Keith served as Consultant and General Counsel to the Capital Area Transit System (CATS), the public transit agency serving the Baton Rouge region. In that role, he advised the Board of Commissioners and the CEO on governance, compliance, and public agency operations, helping leadership make sound decisions in a highly regulated environment. He also served as Vice Chair of the CATS Employees’ Pension Fund Board, where he helped steward the retirement benefits of the people who keep the system running.
Advising the Launch Nashville's R.E.D. Academy
During its development stages, Keith served as a consultant to the Urban League of Middle Tennessee’s R.E.D. (Real Estate Developers) Academy, powered by Amazon. The Academy was created so that Nashville’s growth would reflect the city’s diversity, giving underrepresented developers an equitable path into real estate development. By combining local knowledge, partnerships, and key strengths such as program design and project financing, it empowers diverse developers to grow their businesses and strengthen the Nashville community.