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Tom DiBello to retire after a productive 46-years with Covington’s Center for Great Neighborhoods


By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter

Turn the page.

It’s time for the next chapter for Tom DiBello.

The Executive Director of Covington’s Center for Great Neighborhoods calls it a career, September 30.
Make that a 46-year career.

“I started here in 1976 when I moved from Philadelphia,” he told the Northern Kentucky Tribune. “After graduating from LaSalle University, I served VISTA – Volunteer for Service to America – and ended up in Covington.”

Tom DiBello (Photo by Andy Furman/NKyTribune)

The Center began in 1976 when the Fourth Street Center and Downtown Neighborhood Center merged to become the Covington Community Center.

VISTA – a product of the JFK Administration, was an organization that served domestically, as opposed to the Peace Corps, whose work was overseas.

“I worked with youth groups in Philadelphia,” he said, “so it seemed like the logical progression.”

And Covington, at least for the soon-to-be 70-year-old DiBello, seemed to be the best choice – at the time.

“I had to choose between Fayette, Arkansas or Covington,” he said. “Covington was described to me as an urban center.”

Fayette’s loss, was in fact Covington’s gain.

The Covington commitment was for a year, he said, but he stuck around, did some local projects – met his wife Catherine – a Public Health Nurse in the Northern Kentucky Health Department – and the rest, as they say, was history.

In 1995, DiBello was named Executive Director.

The Covington Center for Great Neighborhoods is a catalyst for positive growth in Covington.

“We spark this growth by bringing people together,” DiBello said, “encouraging them to work with each other, and supporting their efforts to shape the future of the community.”

DiBello says the Center is committed to helping people discover and develop their skills, find and use the resources they need, and discover partners who share their concern for the well-being of Covington.

“In the early years,” he said, “we worked with schools – establishing Community Learning Centers in Covington. We wrote the first 21st Century Grant for Covington schools.”

The Center also helped with after-school learning programs.

“We developed over 60 units of mixed income housing; an investment of over $60 million,” he states. “Our goal was to provide housing as well as revitalize the neighborhood.”

DiBello says initially The Center focused on the West Side of Covington; and now the focus has shifted to the East Side and the Austinburg Neighborhood as well as the South – to 21st Street.

“That South region includes the old St. Elizabeth North Building,” he said. “We’re working with the city on feasibility, as to what the building might become.”

The Center employs eight full-time staffers. “We’ve always been small,” DiBello said, “but we’ve always left a big footprint. That was – and is – our intention.”

He says the non-profit Center just wants to help residents make lives – and communities better.

As for his legacy, DiBello said: “My nature and leadership philosophy are to enjoy other people’s talents and success. I loved helping support the wonderfully talented people I worked with, and in the community.”

He says no Executive Director has been selected as of yet — and once he’s gone – well, that’ll be it.

“Leadership changes are good,” he said. “A newer, younger voice with energy. It’ll give The Center a chance to evolve and a vision for the future.”

Many people consider The Center a resource, he says. “We need to support it like any other non-profit.”

The Annual Celebration is set for October 21st.

That’s the time the community will officially say good-bye to Tom DiBello.

He may be looking towards his future these days – but Covington won’t forget the past 46 years Tom DiBello toiled for them.


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