A Passion for Equity

August 9, 2022

Harvard Magazine

As an undergraduate studying environmental systems technology at Cornell, Anyeley Hallová, M.L.A. ’03, wanted to give back to the black community. She would travel from Ithaca to her home in South Florida to encourage students from predominantly black high schools to apply to the Ivy League university. During a semester abroad in Costa Rica, she learned that sustainability—a concept she wanted to explore professionally—isn’t just about the natural environment. Social and economic components, including questions of access and equity, are vital, too. Though she carried these ideas with her to graduate school, equity wasn’t what people talked about in design and development circles when Hallová earned her master’s degrees in city planning and landscape architecture from MIT and Harvard, respectively. So, she pursued equity-related work in her private time, serving on the board of nonprofits like the Portland Housing Center. Then, in 2020, the murder of George Floyd shifted equity and social justice to the center of public and academic discourse.

Hallová, suddenly, felt a push to do something more.

“What if I could start a company that could bring my passion for equity into development and do it on my work time?” she thought.

Now, Hallová—named by the Urban Land Institute in 2016 as one of the best young land-use professionals around the globe—pursues equity-focused work full-time as a real estate developer herself. In 2021, she founded “Adre,” a company in Portland, Oregon, that builds wealth for black and other marginalized communities through property ownership and investment. “Adre,” in the West African language of Ewe, translates to “seven,” a sacred number that culturally represents excellence and completeness.