Vickie Kimmel Forby is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign where she earned her Masters Degree in Architecture while participating in the East St. Louis Action Research Project from 1990-1994. She has been the Executive Director of the Emerson Park Development Corporation for the past 8 years and has a proven commitment to the revitalization of the East St. Louis region and foremost to the people of the Emerson Park Neighborhood and surrounding communities both young and old. EPDC has operated one of the top five YouthBuild Programs in the country for the past three years, has recently opened a Charter High School and have partnered to bring the second largest park and ride station on the MetroLink line to the Emerson Park Neighborhood. Housing development is her first love and EPDC has partnered to bring the largest multi-family mixed income development to the City in over thirty years. Through her and the leadership of the residents of the Emerson Park Neighborhood, EPDC has proven to be a testament to the fact that partnership and resource sharing is the key to redeveloping neighborhoods!