Darnell Adams

Darnell Adams is a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Community Progress. A Detroit native, Adams is the Vice President of Detroit Community Initiatives for Gilbert Family Foundation and has spent more than a decade striving to build and adjust resources in ways that improve access to opportunity for Detroiters.

Prior to joining Gilbert Family Foundation, Adams served as Vice President of Neighborhoods at Invest Detroit where he led equitable investments in the city’s Strategic Neighborhood Fund districts with a special focus on supporting BIPOC developers. Before his time at Invest Detroit, he served as the Director of Inventory for the Detroit Land Bank Authority, overseeing the strategic disposition of 94,000 publicly owned parcels.

Adams serves on the boards of several community development organizations across Detroit and is regarded as an expert on equitable community development, sharing his work through local, national, and international forums. He holds a degree in urban and regional planning from Michigan State University.