About Us
KAIROS LEADERSHIP
Vonnette Harris
President and CEO - Kairos Development, LLC
Vonnette Harris is a credentialed economic development and real estate professional with more than 25 years of experience advancing redevelopment initiatives, public-private partnerships, catalytic investment strategies, and community revitalization efforts. As Founder and Principal of Kairos Development, LLC, she specializes in leveraging real estate, housing, infrastructure, and strategic partnerships to promote economic growth, strengthen local economies, and expand opportunity in historically underserved communities.
Since founding Kairos Development in 2018, Harris has helped clients secure more than $22 million in grant funding, which has successfully leveraged over $53 million in additional public, private, and philanthropic investment for community development initiatives. Her work has supported affordable housing preservation, redevelopment projects, economic recovery strategies, organizational capacity building, and community wealth creation. By providing strategic guidance, technical assistance, and innovative capital attraction strategies, she has helped nonprofit organizations, local governments, faith-based institutions, and community development partners transform funding opportunities into projects that deliver lasting economic and social impact.
Her expertise includes economic development finance, redevelopment planning, project feasibility analysis, stakeholder engagement, transit-oriented development, capital structuring, coalition building, and community investment strategy. Harris is widely recognized for integrating housing and economic development objectives to create resilient communities, strengthen workforce stability, and support long-term economic mobility.
In 2024, Harris was selected as an inaugural Economic Recovery Corps Fellow. Through this nationally competitive fellowship, she co-leads the Purple Line Preservation Network, a regional initiative focused on preserving affordability, mitigating displacement, and ensuring that transit-oriented investment generates inclusive economic growth and shared prosperity.
Prior to launching Kairos Development, Harris held development leadership positions with Landex Development and Conifer Realty, where she structured and advanced more than $230 million in mixed-finance housing transactions throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Her experience spans the full development lifecycle, including planning, acquisitions, financing, community engagement, entitlement, development management, and long-term asset stewardship.
Harris advises local governments, community development corporations, housing authorities, faith-based institutions, and regional coalitions on redevelopment and economic growth initiatives. She is a member of the International Economic Development Council, International City/County Management Association, National League of Cities, Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition, Community Development Network, CREW Baltimore, and Women of Color in Community Development.
Kairos Development: Breathing New Life Into Underserved Communities
"Thanks to the unwavering efforts of Kairos Development, new doors of economic opportunities are finally opening up for these communities through real estate transactions, paving the way for a more inclusive and sustainable future."
Vonnette is excited to work on this important initiative alongside Enterprise Community Partners and coalition stakeholders, and be part of the inaugural cohort of ERC Fellows.
As a 100% certified minority owned business, Kairos looks to partner with for-profit developers, community-based non-profits, faith-based organizations and local municipalities to bring redevelopment initiatives from concept to completion. Building community consensus for any redevelopment project requires a leader with vision, strong interpersonal skills, an effective listener, and avid communicator to envision the possibilities of an underserved community. Additionally, Kairos Development understands the importance of assembling the right team of professionals to achieve the desired product.
OUR STORY
Kairos Development, LLC was founded on the belief that thriving communities are created through strategic investment, local leadership, and expanded economic opportunity. We help communities transform underutilized assets into catalysts for economic growth, neighborhood revitalization, and long-term prosperity.
Our work is rooted in a simple principle: economic development is most effective when it builds upon existing community strengths. By aligning investment, partnerships, and local priorities, we help communities create conditions that support revitalization, workforce stability, wealth creation, and improved quality of life.
Through collaborative planning, redevelopment strategies, and investment facilitation, Kairos works with public, private, and nonprofit partners to leverage resources, attract capital, and advance projects that produce measurable economic impact.
At the heart of our mission is the belief that a person's zip code should not determine their potential, opportunity, or future. We are committed to helping communities shape their own economic futures through inclusive development, local capacity building, and sustained investment.
WHO WE ARE
What our partners say
Community developers and housing partners on what it is like to work with Kairos.
Kairos Development has been a valued partner in supporting GEDCO’s housing preservation and community development initiatives. Through strategic guidance, technical assistance, and resource navigation, Kairos has helped strengthen our ability to address complex housing challenges and identify opportunities to better serve residents and communities. Their expertise, responsiveness, and commitment to mission-driven work have made them an important resource in advancing our goals.
As Yoke Management Partners has grown its portfolio of affordable housing communities and expanded its development pipeline across the Washington, DC metropolitan region, Kairos Development has been a trusted advisor. Vonnette’s deep understanding of LIHTC development, stakeholder engagement, and complex public-private partnerships brings a thoughtful, solutions-oriented perspective to our work. We value the expertise and commitment to advancing transformative, community-centered development.
Kairos Development played an instrumental role in helping Cherry Hill Development Corporation build organizational and development capacity while leading the community engagement process that resulted in the 2020 Cherry Hill Transformation Plan. Through Mrs. Harris’s thoroughness, diligence, consistency, and professionalism, resident voices were elevated and incorporated into a transformative community-led vision that has since leveraged millions of dollars in new investment in Cherry Hill. The impact of Kairos Development’s work continues to be felt throughout the community, and CHDC remains deeply appreciative of its partnership and lasting contributions.
