Kevin Wright and Joe Nickol have been working on “The Neighborhood Playbook” for a couple years and have created a fascinating resource for community advocates. Kevin is the Executive Director of the Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation and has done some really innovative work in Cincinnati. Joe is a design professional with MKSK and has worked on […]

Charles Marohn is the Founder and President of Strong Towns. He was trained as an engineer, but early on came to see the problematic nature of how we often do development. Specifically, he has coined the idea of the “Growth Ponzi Scheme” to show how unsustainable traditional patterns of development have become. From these early […]

Kristen Jeffers took on the mantle of the Black Urbanist to reclaim what it means to be an African-American in an urban environment. Since then she has written on all kinds of issues related to what is required if we are to build stronger communities and cities moving forward. She is also the host of […]

Charles Thomas now leads the Knight Foundation’s work in Charlotte, but he has been involved in creating a better Charlotte for quite a while. He has seen what it is like to try to work with little to no resources and what it is like when there are resources available. Further, he has been able […]

Lynn Richards, the President and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism, joins us this week to share some of her wisdom and experience. She has a wealth of experience in how to engage with communities in a way that empowers them to better themselves. CNU is one of the most important and well-respected […]

Vilas Dhar travels all over the world working to accomplish social change in one way or another. At the time of this call, he was working in the Middle East as a consultant. In the past, he has been involved in any number of projects from a small community-centered restaurant to a nonprofit incubator to a […]

Eve Picker has been involved in a number of really fascinating projects through the years. Through her work, she has been able to create positive change from a number of different angles. Her newest endeavor, SmallChange.com, is focused on eliminating the barrier to entry for those folks that want to invest real money in their […]

Chris Morrill’s time in Roanoke lined up almost exactly with the existence of CityWorks (X)po. In that time, Chris has played a crucial role in changing the narrative around Roanoke and creating a more thriving place. Sadly, he is moving on to do big things with the Government Finance Officers Association. But, he has left […]

Josh McManus, of Rock Ventures and a long-time community development practitioner, joins us from Detroit to talk about his theory, and experience, of change. Josh has been involved in a wide diversity of community change initiatives across several communities and from several different perspectives. He has also taken a great deal of time to document the […]

Sarah McKinley, from the Democracy Collaborative, joins us all the way from Brussels, Belgium to talk about how communities can engage in economic development differently. Sarah shares with us about the idea of community wealth-building and utilizing local resources to grow local economies in a way that benefits the whole community. She also talks about […]