Former Polk County Housing Trust Fund director of research and planning Kendyl Larson will receive a 2023 Outstanding Young Professional Award presented by the Iowa State University College of Design during a ceremony in Ames on November 3.
The award honors Larson for her achievements including her work to advance housing justice and equity at the Trust Fund through projects like Redlining in DSM. Larson is a primary author and designer of the Redlining in DSM website and related online video series with Lauren Johnson, another past employee of the Trust Fund.
Recently, thanks to a project Kendyl coordinated, a State of Iowa historical marker has been placed on the campus of Iowa Methodist Medical Center honoring the historic Center Street neighborhood, a hub of Black business and culture that was demolished for Urban Renewal in the 1960s.
Larson graduated from Iowa State in 2019 with a master of community and regional planning degree. Her thesis for that degree dealt with the history of redlining and segregation in Des Moines. She recently relocated to the Minneapolis/St. Paul region in Minnesota where she is now housing coordinator for the City of Minnetonka.