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Fellow

Henry Cisneros

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Chairman and Co-Founder, American Triple I Partners

About

Henry Cisneros served as the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in President Bill Clinton’s administration. Cisneros was credited with initiating the revitalization of many of the nation’s public housing developments and formulating policies which contributed to achieving the nation’s highest ever homeownership rate.

He is currently chairman of the CityView companies, which work with urban homebuilders to create homes priced within the range of average families, and chairman of Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co., L.L.C., a leading public finance firm.

Cisneros was elected mayor of San Antonio, Texas in 1981, becoming the first Hispanic-American mayor of a major U.S. city. During his four terms as mayor, he helped rebuild the city’s economic base and spurred the creation of jobs through massive infrastructure and downtown improvements. He was selected as the “Outstanding Mayor” in the nation by City and State Magazine in 1986.

After leaving HUD in 1997, Cisneros was president and chief operating officer of Univision Communications, the Spanish-language broadcasting company, and currently serves on its board of directors.

Cisneros holds degrees from Texas A&M University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and The George Washington University. He also has been awarded more than 20 honorary doctorates from leading universities. He has authored and edited several books, and was presented the Common Purpose Award with former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp for demonstrating the potential of bipartisan cooperation.

Fellow

Angela Glover Blackwell

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Founder in Residence, PolicyLink

Areas of Interest

    About

    Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder in Residence, started PolicyLink in 1999 with a mission of advancing racial and economic equity for all. Through her writing, speaking, and leadership, Angela has helped to grow and define a national equity movement focused on innovating and improving public policy with a wide range of partners to ensure access and opportunity for all low-income people and communities of color – particularly in the areas of building an equitable economy, health, housing, transportation, infrastructure, and arts and culture. Prior to founding PolicyLink, Angela served as Senior Vice President at the Rockefeller Foundation, where she oversaw the foundation’s Domestic and Cultural programs. A lawyer by training, she gained national recognition as founder of the Oakland (CA) Urban Strategies Council, where she pioneered new approaches to neighborhood revitalization. From 1977 to 1987, she was a partner at Public Advocates, a nationally known public interest law firm. Angela earned a bachelor’s degree from Howard University, and a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

    Selected Publications

    Blackwell, Angela Glover. 2016, forthcoming. The Curb-Cut Effect. Stanford Social Innovation Review 14.1.

    Blackwell, Angela Glover. 2015. Race, Place, and Financial Security: Building Equitable Communities of Opportunity. In What It’s Worth: Strengthening the Financial Future of Families, Communities and the Nation, 105-112. L. Choi, D. Erickson, K. Griffin, A. Levere & E. Seidman, (eds.) Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and CFED.

    Blackwell, Angela Glover. 2014. Foreword. In Worlds Apart: Poverty and Politics in Rural America, Second Edition, by Cynthia Duncan. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Blackwell, Angela Glover and Neera Tanden. 2013. Preface. In All-In Nation: An America that Works for All. PolicyLink and the Center for American Progress.

    Blackwell, Angela Glover, Stewart Kwoh and Manuel Pastor. 2010. Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America’s Future. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.

    Fellow

    Paul Levy

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    President and CEO, Center City District, Philadelphia

    Areas of Interest

      About

      Paul Levy is the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of Philadelphia’s Center City District (CCD), serving in that capacity since 1991. Levy planned, received property owner and legislative approval for, and now directs the $20 million downtown management district, which provides security, hospitality, cleaning, place marketing, planning  and capital improvement services for the central business district of Philadelphia. He has overseen property owner and legislative re-approval of the District five times in the last 23 years, enabling the CCD to finance and carry out capital improvements. With the opening of Dilworth Plaza in September 2014, the CCD will have completed $130 million in streetscape, lighting, park, and façade improvements. Levy also serves as executive director of the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation (CPDC), an advocacy and planning organization supported by the downtown business community. Since 1979, Levy has taught at the University of Pennsylvania’s City Planning Department directing graduate planning studios focused on Philadelphia and an introductory course on downtown development and management. 

      Selected Publications

      Levy, Paul. Diversifying Downtown from the Ground Up. Economic Development Journal, 12(2): 7-12.

      Levy, Paul R. and Lauren Gilchrist. 2013. Downtown Rebirth: Documenting the Live-Work Dynamic in 21st Century U.S. Cities. Philadelphia, PA: Center City District.

      Levy, Paul. 2010. Business Improvements in Philadelphia: A Practitioner’s Perspective. Drexel Law Review, 3.

      Levy, Paul. 2001. Making Downtowns Competitive: A Business Improvement District Reanimates Center City in Philadelphia. Planning, April: 16-19.

      Levy, Paul R. and Roman Cybriwsky. 1980. The Hidden Dimensions of Culture and Class: Philadelphia. In Back to the City: Issues in Neighborhood Revitalization, Shirley Bradway Laska and Daphne Spain, eds. Elsevier Inc.

      Emerging Scholar

      James Morone

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      Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science, Haverford College

      Areas of Interest

        About

        James is completing his PhD in political science at the University of Pennsylvania in the summer of 2019.  He will begin as a Visiting Assistant Professor of political science at Haverford College in the Spring of 2020. James’ researches examines the development of institutions in urban neighborhoods through the interaction of neighborhood activism, local governments, and the philanthropic and private sectors. His research inquires how these historically emergent institutions shape neighborhood residents’ political options, creating opportunities for market-based projects and public-private partnerships, while discouraging mass mobilization. Other research projects currently in progress include a comparison of state laws specifying landlord discretion to determine fines and fees in the tenant-landlord relationship, and an analysis of urban government’s use of “community control” discourses to legitimize neoliberal education and housing policies. James is passionate about engaged research believing that social science can be informed by and contribute to social justice practice, without compromising scientific rigor. He was a Summer Fellow at the Center on Democracy and Organizing at University of California, Berkeley in the Summer of 2019.

        Advisory Board Member

        Lawrence Parks

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        CEO and Co-Founder, Forethought Advisors

        About

        Lawrence H. Parks is a co-founder of Forethought Advisors, an advocacy, lobbying and strategic corporate solutions firm specializing in financial services. He has authored parts of several groundbreaking banking legislative initiatives, including key provisions in the Dodd–Frank Act of 2010.

        Prior to the formation of Forethought Advisors, Mr. Parks spent 21 years as Senior Vice President of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs at the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. He has also served as Senior Advisor and Director of Strategic Regional Growth and Finance for the Department of Commerce, and as Associate Legislative Counsel and Director at the Mortgage Bankers’ Association.

        Mr. Parks has worked closely with Congress, presidential administrations, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as well as member institutions and national housing and community development advocates to shape regulatory policy in the housing finance and banking industries. He has a J.D. from Yale and graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Political Science from Temple University.

        Fellow

        Patricia L. Smith

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        President and CEO, The Funders Network

        About

        Patricia L. Smith is President and CEO of The Funders Network (TFN), where she drives TFN’s organizational and operational initiatives and systems and provides oversight and direction to its funder working groups and grant and fellowship programs. She also serves as program lead for TFN’s Inclusive Economies working group, which applies a three-part focus—race, place and prosperity—to economic growth and development.

        Pat is formerly a senior policy advisor for the Reinvestment Fund, a national leader working to revitalize low-income communities through the strategic and innovative use of capital, data and partnerships. She led the Reinvestment Fund’s efforts to improve access to healthier foods in underserved urban and rural communities, and was instrumental in expanding fresh food finance across the industry of community development finance institutions, helping secure over $243 million in federal funding for that work. Prior to joining the Reinvestment Fund, Pat directed the City of Philadelphia’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI), a $295 million public-private partnership to stimulate investment in Philadelphia neighborhoods. NTI contributed to a paradigm shift in urban redevelopment policy and resource allocation by creating a data-driven framework for assessing opportunities in distressed urban markets.

        Pat is a current member of the Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE), and serves on the technical advisory committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s national initiative, Aligning Systems for Health, led by the Georgia Health Policy Center.

        Fellow

        David Thornburgh

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        Senior Advisor & Former President and CEO, Committee of Seventy

        Areas of Interest

          About

          David Thornburgh is a Senior Advisor and the former President and CEO of Committee of Seventy. As CEO, Thornburgh oversees the operation of the 110-year-old non-profit, non-partisan good government group as it fights for ethical and transparent government, honest public officials, effective use of taxpayer dollars, honest elections and increased access to voting, limits on the influence of money in elections, better informed citizens and more citizen participation in public life. Thornburgh has served as Executive Director of the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania since 2008. Prior to that he was President and CEO of the Alliance for Regional Stewardship and Executive Director of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia where, under his leadership, the League became one of the nation’s best regional “think and do tanks.” From 1988 to 1994 he served as Director of the Wharton Small Business Development Center, the consulting and training arm of The Wharton School’s Entrepreneurial Center. Right after graduate school, he served as Director of Civic Affairs at the CIGNA Corporation in Philadelphia. Throughout his career, Thornburgh has received a number of awards for his professional and civic leadership. He is a frequent commentator on public policy and regional development issues, and has been quoted often in the Philadelphia newspapers and also in the New York Times, USA Today, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Inc., and Fortune. 

          Emerging Scholar

          Viviana Wu

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          Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy, UMass Amherst

          About

          Viviana C. Wu is currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy at UMass Amherst. She received her PhD in nonprofit management and social welfare at the Penn School of Social Policy and Practice. Her research revolves around how nonprofits and community of citizens impact local governance through advocacy, mobilization, and innovation on social media platforms and offline arena. She is currently studying community foundations’ strategic use of social media in driving community change. She also examines nonprofit innovation and rivalry advocacy on Facebook in social movements. She holds a MS in Nonprofit Leadership from Penn and a LL.B. and a BSocSc in Public Administration and Laws from the University of Hong Kong. She also serves as the Managing Editor for Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (NVSQ).

          Selected Publications

          An, S., Wu, V. C., Guo, C. How Stakeholder Mobilization Saved Sweet Briar College. Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership. Forthcoming.

          Wu, V. C. (2016). Innovating Nonprofits: The Case of Episcopal Community Services. Philadelphia Social Innovation Journal, Issue 26.

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