2009 Professional Achievement Award

Christopher Gulotta, Esq. ’76

When Chris Gulotta ’76 took the helm of the Cumberland County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (CCHRA) in 1980, the organization had just seven staff positions, two of which were vacant. Today, the CCHRA has 61 employees and a $15 million annual budget.

Gulotta fell in love with urban redevelopment early in his Dickinson career, when he took a course, The City, with Donald Flaherty, professor of political science. “I became immersed in city planning and urban studies,” he recalls. “I became a newspaper clipper—cutting out everything about cities.”

Gulotta developed his own major, urban studies, which drew from political science, economics and sociology. He took extra courses to finish a semester early, yet still found time to be a resident advisor for three years. After graduation, he began law school, took a year off to complete a master’s in urban and regional planning at Pennsylvania State University, and then returned to complete his J.D. at Dickinson School of Law in 1980.

“I made a decision after I passed the bar in 1980 that I wanted to go into public service,” he says. “When this job [of executive director] opened up, I jumped at it.”

The mission of the CCHRA fit his interests perfectly, and he set out to create what he calls a full-service organization.

“We work with businesses interested in getting financing, buying the building and starting a shop,” he explains. “We work with developers interested in developing housing and storefronts [and] with municipalities on infrastructure and streetscape projects that complement business development as well as housing. That’s really the key—it’s holistic.”

Gulotta also nurtured a relationship between Dickinson and Carlisle. CCHRA worked with the college to help finance the downtown hotel, provide technical assistance on home-buying incentives in revitalized neighborhoods and develop a blueprint for future college-community partnerships.

His focus on collaborative efforts has led to the creation of nonprofits that are key to housing and business throughout the area, including the Carlisle Housing Opportunities Corp., Cumberland/Perry Housing Initiatives, Cumberland Senior Housing Associates and Hope Station Neighborhood Council.

Gulotta also is board vice president for the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania and serves on statewide homeless and housing advisory boards. He has served on the boards of Carlisle Area United Way, Murata Business Center and Harrisburg Area Community College.

Gulotta lives in Carlisle with wife Candy, who teaches sixth grade in the Carlisle Area School District. Daughter Jackie recently completed graduate studies at New York University, and daughter MaryAnn is a sophomore at Rutgers University.