Lucretia Hunt was born 74 years ago in East Utica, New York. Her neighborhood then was a predominantly Italian, mixed commercial and residential community. Today, it is the most diverse in the city, serving as home to a large population of low-income seniors, minority families, and immigrants from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. Hunt is part of the glue that binds this diverse neighborhood. From 1955 to 1966, she lived in Puerto Rico. While there, she was recruited to teach English as a second language. In the process, she learned to speak Spanish fluently. She was also the host of an English-speaking radio show while she was there.

A teacher and long-time community activist in political circles and women's issues, Hunt was a founder of the East Utica Concerned Citizens Block Association. That association, a model for others formed in the city, was a charter member of the Association of Block Coalitions (ABC) formed in 1995 by the HomeOwnership Center ® as a means of impacting positive change throughout Oneida County. At the formation of the ABC, Hunt was head of the East Utica block association. In 1998, she became a member of the association's board of directors. She has served as chair of the board development committee and, for the past three years, has been secretary. This year, she has been nominated to serve as vice president.

Hunt and the East Utica block association have been in the forefront of letter-writing campaigns advocating health and safety code changes in Utica. She has served a leader of a committee established by the HomeOwnership Center ® to explore the possibility of earning a designation for Utica as a Weed and Seed community. Now she is an active member and community representative on the crime prevention committee.

She also has lent her talents to a community leadership committee, created to establish new block associations and increase participation in established ones. The committee has developed a block captains' manual and PowerPoint presentation as part of a resident leadership peer training strategy, and raised $14,000 to send 14 residents to a Community Leadership Institute sponsored by Neighborhood Reinvestment.

Hunt is a staunch supporter of the HomeOwnership Center ® and a key volunteer for any task. She can always be counted on for NeighborWorks ® Week activities, neighborhood cleanups, the annual paint can pickup, block parties, telephone calls, letter writing, advocacy activities and more. Utica is a better place because Lucreita Hunt was born there 74 years ago.