{"id":10857,"date":"2026-02-10T15:16:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/?p=10857"},"modified":"2026-02-11T09:13:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:13:23","slug":"montgomery-planning-board-chair-artie-harris-grew-up-learning-to-give-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/2026\/02\/montgomery-planning-board-chair-artie-harris-grew-up-learning-to-give-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Montgomery Planning Board Chair Artie Harris grew up learning to give back"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Montgomery Planning staff<\/em><\/p>\n

Montgomery Planning is celebrating Black History Month by sharing the voices, journeys, and impact of Montgomery Planning\u2019s Black leaders.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"A<\/em><\/p>\n

Artie Harris worries that Montgomery County\u2019s skyrocketing home prices will leave too many residents, including his two adult daughters, unable to afford a home in a neighborhood like the one where they grew up.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one reason why helping the county get \u201cunstuck\u201d from its affordable housing crisis feels personal\u2013and remains Harris\u2019 top priority as chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board.<\/p>\n

As Harris helps chart Montgomery\u2019s future, he wants the county to offer more reasonably priced homes in all sizes, from large apartments for growing families to starter homes for young buyers and smaller spaces for downsizing seniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of supply-and-demand. Housing costs come down when there is more of it,\u201d Harris said. \u201cAnd we need different types of housing to meet different needs at every stage of someone\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

He envisions \u201ccomplete\u201d communities like the one where he\u2019s lived for 26 years in Takoma Park. He treasures being able to walk to the food co-op, hardware store, pharmacy, restaurants, and a great bookstore, as well as catching public transportation and riding a bike through leafy parkland.<\/p>\n

\u2018I felt a calling for that\u2019<\/h2>\n

\"AHarris grew up in Chicago. His mother was an elementary school teacher for the city and was required to go on mandatory unpaid leave when Harris was born. During that time, his father was enrolled in an apprenticeship program and was not yet earning a living wage. His family was fortunate to live in subsidized housing during that time– something he\u2019s remained grateful for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the importance of having stable, quality housing,\u201d he said. His father went on to work as a plumber for the Chicago Housing Authority, always going above and beyond to provide good service to the public housing residents.<\/p>\n

His parents also taught him to look out for people even less privileged and to support local and national civil rights causes. \u201cMy father supplemented his income with a side plumbing business on evenings and weekends, and he always gave price breaks to people he knew couldn\u2019t afford the full cost of the repairs,\u201d Harris said. \u201cMy mother always responded to any need put before her\u2014 donating to community causes, serving as a court witness, contacting the alderman, and in countless ways helping others in her neighborhood and her church. They modelled giving back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, spending summers on his grandparents\u2019 farm in rural Virginia made him \u201cfall in love with nature and the outdoors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many ways when I’m walking through the woods and our parks, it gives me the same feeling as being on my grandparents\u2019 farm,\u201d he said. \u201cI love being outdoors, and it gives me a kick to see all the ways our parks give people that connection to nature, whether it\u2019s walking or biking on the paved or unpaved trails or kayaking in our lakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

His grandparents were pioneers as African-American farmers who owned their own farm in the 1930s. Like his parents, they were committed to service. They raised several foster children in addition to their four biological children, and his grandmother took it upon herself to ensure every family in their community had access to clean water\u2014an achievement recognized with a fountain in her honor at the county courthouse.
\n\"A<\/p>\n

Creating Communities<\/h2>\n

Harris worked for nine years as a civil engineer before turning his talent toward how real estate development and smart planning could help shape communities. He got his MBA from Stanford to equip his pivot to real estate development, where he has spent most of his career.<\/p>\n

In the late 1990s, he moved to Maryland to become a vice president at Bozzuto Development Company. His work included spearheading a complex public-private partnership to restore the historic art deco Bethesda Theater on Wisconsin Avenue, construct apartment buildings above and behind it, and build a public parking garage beneath a portion of the buildings.<\/p>\n

\"Four

Tom Bozzuto, Toby Bozzuto, former Governor Martin O\u2019Malley and Artie Harris in Baltimore, MD.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I thought, \u2018I really love being a developer, pulling partners together and leveraging assets to create communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2009, Harris became vice president of real estate for the nonprofit Montgomery Housing Partnership<\/a>, which develops affordable housing in Montgomery and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was giving back,\u201d Harris said, that he loved the most. \u201cThere was a need, and I felt a lot of families weren\u2019t as privileged as I was. I felt a calling for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired by Black History<\/h2>\n

\"AHarris said he\u2019s proud of Montgomery Planning\u2019s work to highlight and protect the county\u2019s rich Black history. That includes recently recommending historic designation for the Wheaton home of Romeo and Elsie Horad<\/a>, who advocated for improved living conditions for Black residents in the 1900s and the Rose-Budd house<\/a>, the ancestral home of founding settlers of several of the mid-nineteenth century free Black communities in the Sandy Spring area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re inspirational to me,\u201d Harris said of the Horads and other Black leaders throughout Montgomery\u2019s history. \u201cThey say that we all have a part to play. We all need to help others.\u201d<\/p>\n

To recharge, Harris said he enjoys listening to jazz, reading biographies and history, cycling, kayaking and working in his garden. He also is active in his church along with his wife, Susy Cheston, who recently retired from working on women\u2019s empowerment and business development around the world.<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s excited to continue helping Montgomery plan for a future that is more affordable, livable, and economically vibrant.<\/p>\n

He admits to being impatient \u2013 \u201cI would love things to go much faster\u201d \u2013 but at the same time, \u201cI feel privileged to chair the Planning Board,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI\u2019m always thinking about how we can do things better, how we can continue to make this county a great place to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Montgomery Planning staff<\/em><\/p>\n

Montgomery Planning is celebrating Black History Month by sharing the voices, journeys, and impact of Montgomery Planning\u2019s Black leaders.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Artie Harris worries that Montgomery County\u2019s skyrocketing home prices will leave too many residents, including his two adult daughters, unable to afford a home in a neighborhood like the one where they grew up.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one reason why helping the county get \u201cunstuck\u201d from its affordable housing crisis feels personal\u2013and remains Harris\u2019 top priority as chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board.<\/p>\n

As Harris helps chart Montgomery\u2019s future, he wants the county to offer more reasonably priced homes in all sizes, from large apartments for growing families to starter homes for young buyers and smaller … Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[745,452],"class_list":["post-10857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-planning","tag-artie-harris","tag-black-history-month"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10857"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10881,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10857\/revisions\/10881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}