Celebrating Leonard Adams, Jr.
During Black History Month, we will highlight several unheralded individuals who have or continue to dedicate their lives to community service and racial equity. Noteworthy among each of these persons is their affiliation with Chrysalis Lab as a current or former client.
Leonard L. Adams, Jr., is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Quest Community Development Corporation in Atlanta, GA. He has extensive experience developing affordable and supportive housing communities in Atlanta's challenged neighborhoods. For 35 years, Mr. Adams has been a social entrepreneur and consultant. He is also the owner and development consultant of Quest Ventures, LLC.
Adams founded Quest in 2001 to provide low-income housing in Atlanta’s Westside. For nearly 25 years, Quest has developed several affordable housing communities totaling over 500 units and $100 million in assets. Quest is currently building three new developments to house people on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. These individuals and families are formerly homeless with substance abuse and/or mental illness, the disabled, and veterans. Quest also provides them with full-time supportive services such as counseling and job readiness.
A U.S. veteran, Adams moved to Atlanta in 1994 to work for his family business. He soon realized the tremendous lack of community resources, especially housing, for residents with addictive diseases and sought to address the problem. He envisioned Quest and it has created a variety of residential options — from short-term housing (365 days or less) to permanent housing for formerly homeless individuals. Today, the Westside is becoming heavily gentrified; nonetheless, the need for affordable housing remains high, and Quest seeks to ensure legacy residents can remain in the communities where they were born and raised.
Quest not only constructs affordable housing but also services Westside residents through a centralized community service hub. Quest completed the commercial development of the 30,000-square foot Quest Westside Impact Center — an $8.9 million development that opened during COVID, and it houses a variety of nonprofits, shared workspace, banking services, and a Family Dollar store. Several other affordable housing projects are in the planning stages, and Quest is currently seeking financing through public and private sources to develop them.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), also a Chrysalis Lab client, recently purchased 2.5 acres on Atlanta’s Westside for the future home of SPLC’s Atlanta office. This campus will provide space to support Westside residents via youth and adult educational programs, affordable commercial spaces for local entrepreneurs, and free event space. Adams will serve as the developer of SPLC’s Atlanta office and oversee its construction. For more information: https://www.splcenter.org/resources/stories/westside-atlanta-entrepreneur-heads-splc-project-office/
Celebrating Lillian Miles Lewis
During Black History Month, we will highlight several unheralded individuals dedicated their lives to community service and racial equity. Chrysalis Lab has had the distinct honor of partnering with all of these warriors for justice.
Lillian Miles Lewis exhibited a keen sense of generosity and an unquenchable curiosity at a young age, which endeared her to her numerous friendships throughout her life. While a student, she traveled to Nigeria for volunteer work. Subsequently, for two years she served as a volunteer teacher in a new program that had just been implemented by then President John F. Kennedy, the Peace Corps.
After acquiring her master’s degree in library science, Lillian moved from her home in Los Angeles to accept a position as a librarian at Atlanta University in 1965. She quickly became integral to Atlanta’s academic, political, and social milieu. At a 1967 New Year’s Eve party, Lillian was introduced to a man she greatly admired and who would soon become her husband—John Lewis. As Lillian put it, “I was attracted to him before I knew him.”
John Lewis and Lillian Miles were married at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta in 1968. During her husband’s early years in Washington, Lillian held leadership roles in the auxiliary organization for spouses of Congressional Black Caucus members and raised money for scholarships. From 1984 to 1989, she served as Associate Director of the Institute for International Affairs and Development and from 1989 to 2003, Lillian was Director of External Affairs in the Office of Research and Sponsorsedl Programs. Lillian Miles Lewis died in 2012 at the age of 73.
Before his passing in 2020, Congressman Lewis created the John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation (JLMLF) to carry on the couple’s passions, including educational access, support of young people, and love of Black heritage and the arts. The couple consistently demonstrated their love of learning and unwavering devotion to teaching others.
The JLMLF is committed to doing the righteous and important work of inspiring “goodJ troublemaking. Shortly after John Lewis’ passing in 2020, Chrysalis Lab assisted them with developing a strategic framework, strengthening their brand and establishing a strong public presence…which included co-creating a robust visual identity for the Foundation and launching a refreshed website. Bringing our talents to bear to perpetuate the legacies of John and Lilian Miles Lewis through their foundation's work remains one of our greatest honors.