Ms. DeGraaf Velázquez has a wide-range of experience in diverse community redevelopment projects, ranging from large-scale HOPE VI, mixed-income, mixed-finance residential developments to impactful, mixed-use projects developed in partnership with community non-profits. In her current position as Vice President, Ms. DeGraaf Velazquez coordinates with finance, design, construction and legal team members, external partners, and community stakeholders, and works to leverage public, private and philanthropic resources to bring transformative projects to fruition.

Ms. DeGraaf Velázquez’s projects often involve the creative combination of local, state and federal resources (including HUD programs, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, New Market Tax Credits (NMTC), and Historic Tax Credits), with private debt, equity and philanthropic funds to support true revitalization and sustainable development. She was the lead project manager for the final phases of the Renaissance Place at Grand HOPE VI in St. Louis, MO, the only certified LEED for Neighborhood Development project in Missouri. She also led MBS’s LEED-Platinum certified Crossroads School project in St. Louis which utilized state and federal NMTCs. She served as Project Manager for the mixed-use, green-built headquarters of the St. Louis Housing Authority (the first project to use HUD capital funds and NMTCs) and she supported the redevelopment of the historic Woolworth building in Grand Center, St. Louis, into the new headquarters for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri. She is currently leading the Scott-Carver HOPE VI mixed-income development in Miami, FL, which was awarded funding in HUD’s competitive ARRA 2009 Green Communities Program.

Ms. DeGraaf Velázquez joined McCormack Baron Salazar in January 2004 as a University of Pennsylvania Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence Fellow. Prior to joining the firm, she managed homeownership development and education programs for a non-profit community development corporation in Chicago.

Ms. DeGraaf Velázquez was selected for the 2007-2008 class of Leadership St. Louis, and is a board member of America Scores St. Louis - an after school program for at-risk youth. She received a B.A. in Sociology in 1995 from Calvin College and an M.A. in Urban Planning and Policy in 1998 from the University of Illinois at Chicago.