John Barros - Executive Director, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative

John Barros is the Executive Director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), an innovative resident-led planning and organizing community nonprofit, and co-owner of Restaurante Cesaria, a recent business venture to bring Cape Verdean cuisine and music to Boston's restaurant scene.

DSNI first made history in 1988 as the only community group in the nation to win eminent domain power to acquire vacant land for development based on its neighborhood plan. 20 years after its formation it continues to organize residents in an effort to revitalize a once devastated neighborhood. The Fannie Mae Foundation recently selected Dudley as one of 10 "Just Right" emerging neighborhoods across the nation for increasing affordable homeownership while attracting capital investment.

John Barros, a lifelong Dudley resident, was at age 17 the first youth elected to the DSNI Board of Directors. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1996, He served as Vice President of the DSNI Board and of Dudley Neighbors, Inc. (DNI), the community land trust created to assure permanent affordable housing. In 2000, John was hired as Executive Director of DSNI. He worked previously for the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies as an Executive Liability underwriter.

In 2002, John co-founded Restaurante Cesaria and brought excellent dinning and live music to Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. Restaurante Cesaria was dubbed the new "cultural center" in the heart of Boston's Cape Verdean community by Nos Jornal soon after it opened.

Enjoying great reviews by both Boston Herald and Boston Globe, Restaurante Cesaria was awarded "Hidden Gem" in Boston Magazine, 2004 and suggested for dining by the Phantom Gourmet with a rating of 82.

In addition John is a founding member of the Center for Community Builders, a national intermediary in the field of community building. He co-coordinates the St Patrick's Church youth group and is a board member of the Cape Verdean Community UNIDO. He is a member of the Aspen Institute's Roundtable on Community Change, a think tank based in Washington, DC., and a current fellow in the Emerging Leaders Program at Duke University's Stanford Institute of Public Policy.