Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation's Lakes Region held its 17th Annual Celebration last night at Castle in the Clouds and, in partnership with Leadership Lakes Region, awarded the first-ever Community Leadership Award to Linda L. Harvey, Executive Director of the Laconia Community Land Trust.  

The annual celebration is held to recognize the generosity of donors, the spirit of community leaders and energy of nonprofit organizations in the region. 

The inaugural Community Leadership Award recipient is Linda L. Harvey. Linda L. Harvey moved to New Hampshire in l982.  For ten years, she served as Director of Housing Programs for Lakes Region Mental Health Center in Laconia.  In 1993, Harvey was hired by Laconia Area Community Land Trust (LACLT), then a fledgling, start-up non-profit community development corporation, to be its founding Executive Director. Today, LACLT is celebrating 15 years of affordable housing development.  Harvey is widely recognized as an affordable housing expert and is often consulted by other local and national organizations.  

Harvey was a member of the first Leadership Lakes Region Class (1998) and has served on their Steering Committee.  She was named a Remarkable Woman of 2006 by New Hampshire Magazine.  Earlier this year, she was recognized by the Zonta Club with a Rose Award for advancing the status of women in the Lakes Region.  Born and raised in Maine, she received her BS in Psychology and Human Services from Nason College and her Masters in Social Work from the University of Connecticut. 


Leadership Lakes Region is an organization dedicated to community improvement by developing, expanding, promoting and putting in place a network of effective volunteer leaders with a variety of skills and interests. It was founded in 1996 by citizens of the Lakes Region committed to fostering strong civic awareness in the community. The group modeled the program after other successful leadership programs throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.leadershiplakesregion.org or call 603-524-6791.

The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation has been improving the quality of life in our communities since 1962.  Based in Concord, the Foundation is a nonprofit philanthropic institution that roots itself in communities across the state through seven regions including Lakes, Manchester, Monadnock, Nashua, North Country, Piscataqua and Upper Valley.  For more information, visit www.nhcf.org or call 603-225-6641.