Tracking the GDDC's progress over the years ... ... at 30th anniversary celebration. Community leaders and city officials gathered at the Canal Dock Boathouse to celebrate the Greater Dwight Development Corporation’s (GDDC) three decades of supporting affordable housing, shopping, and early childhood education in and around Dwight — now that that neighborhood nonprofit has turned 30.Dozens of New Haveners turned out Thursday evening to mark that milestone at the GDDC’s 30-year anniversary celebration. The event doubled as an opportunity to honor the late Yale law professor Jay Pottenger, Jr., who served as the nonprofit’s legal advisor supporting neighborhood and community organizing.Thursday’s gathering was hosted in a second-floor hall at the Canal Dock Boathouse on Long Wharf. Posters decorated the hall documenting the GDCC’s work over the years. Attendees mingled for the event’s first hour, enjoying lamb lollipops, deviled eggs, and mocktails. Around 6:45 p.m., the speaking program kicked off with remarks from local and state leaders, including Mayor Justin Elicker, State Sen. President Pro Tem Martin Looney, State Rep. Pat Dillon, and Dwight Community Management Team Chair Florita Gillespie. The evening provided frequent reminders of the legacy of Pottenger, who saw the importance in supporting GDDC Executive Director Linda Townsend Maier’s vision for the nonprofit. That has included renovating deteriorated Dwight properties and expanding homeownership and affordable housing opportunities, developing the Dwight shopping plaza — including the Stop & Shop grocery store – at 150 Whalley Ave, establishing job-training programs, and founding the Montessori School on Edgewood in 2006.Townsend Maier said Thursday’s event was not only to provide reminders of the GDDC’s success but to also reinvigorate the community’s investment in the nonprofit’s next steps. “We’re looking to the future,” she said. GDDC is currently working to form its next 10-year neighborhood plan, Townsend Maier said. ​“We are and remain a community-based neighborhood group. We’re trying to demonstrate that, yes, this is still possible.” When asked what she is most proud of doing through the nonprofit’s three decades so far, Townsend Maier said the Montessori School On Edgewood was one of many successes that proved the organization’s benefit to the community and showed tangible growth. Pottenger, Townsend Maier told the Independent, was instrumental in helping the GDDC lay the legal groundwork for dozens of projects. Thursday’s event launched the Jay Pottenger Vibrant Communities Fund to honor his legacy. The fund, housed at Dwight Hall, will support GDDC’s community leader-led projects focused on continuing the local work that aligns with Pottenger’s passions. Cynthia Farrar, who supported GDDC through her work at Yale’s Office of New Haven Affairs, shared a video of interviews she co-produced that captured the stories of those impacted by GDDC’s local work.She described Pottenger as ​“extraordinarily supportive and committed” to GDDC’s vision, alongside Townsend Maier. Elicker presented GDDC with a city proclamation for its innovative solutions to local issues like housing, education, and quality of life. He declared that New Haven is stronger because of the GDDC’s decades-long efforts that were supported by former Mayors John DeStefano Jr and Toni Harp, Pottenger, and others. Looney recalled his first state senate term in 1994. He said Townsend Maier was one of the first local leaders he heard from with pleas to support her efforts to revitalize Dwight. Gillespie’s brief remarks Thursday urged GDDC to keep up the work and offered the reminder that ​“we love and appreciate you.” GDDC's past and present: Linda Lorimer, Linda Townsend Maier, Cynthia Farrar, and Alan Plattus. Townsend Maier (right) with former Mayor DeStefano. The late Yale Law School professor and GDDC supporter Jay Pottenger, Jr. (right). At Thursday's celebration...