Tom Taylor grew up in Iowa and received a degree in Architecture from Iowa State University before traveling to New Orleans with VISTA (Volunteers in Service of America) in 1970. He attended the University of New Orleans and received a master’s degree in Urban Studies.

Taylor lived and worked in New Orleans from 1970-1984. Much of Taylor’s work concerned fair housing programs, historic preservation and restoration, and neighborhood rehabilitation. He worked directly for the City of New Orleans as the Housing Program Developer from 1975-1977. While a student at the University of New Orleans, he wrote a proposal for what would eventually become the Public Improvement Program, funded by the City of New Orleans. This program promoted both private and public improvement projects, which included the city funded renovation of Clay Square in the Irish Channel. The Public Improvement Program worked in tandem with the Neighborhood Improvement Association of the Irish Channel, resulting in the designation of the Irish Channel as a historic district.

Taylor also worked as the director of the Lafitte Area Development Association (LADA), a product of the Neighborhood Technical Assistance Project (NTAP) funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Taylor’s impressive resume additionally includes Executive Director of Neighborhood Housing Services, State Director of Our Man-Made Environment Education Program, and Program Developer of the Innovative Education Coalition.

Taylor left New Orleans in 1984 to pursue a PhD in Environment Design and Planning from Virginia Tech. He then moved to Tallahassee to work with the Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium and teach at Florida State University.

When Tom Taylor donated these materials (SC-250-MS) to the Louisiana Division, he included a biography and job history of his time in New Orleans as well as a narrative sketch of the city that can be accessed from the External Documents link of his Agent record.