Visting Scholar

Federal Reserve Bank of NY

Tyler Norris, MDiv, is a social entrepreneur and trusted advisor to philanthropies, partnerships and government agencies working to improve the well-being of people and place. For over four decades, he has shaped health and development initiatives in hundreds of communities in the U.S. and around the world and built over a dozen business and social ventures.

Tyler is co-founder and director of the CEO Alliance for Mental Health; a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a senior advisor to Mental Health America, the Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative and MAPS. He is a founding board member of Mindful Philanthropy, and on the board of the National Academies of Sciences’ Forum for Children’s Well Being and the Global Flourishing Study. Tyler also chairs the mental well-being initiative in his home community in Idaho and serves as a non-denominational chaplain and voluntary leader of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) in multiple settings.

From 2017- 2022, Tyler served as founding CEO of Well Being Trust, which for its first 5½ years was a national-facing impact philanthropy with a mission to advance mental, social and spiritual health of the United States. In this period, Well Being Trust invested over $65 million in 240+ initiatives and helped build a portfolio of sustaining organizations to accelerate the social movement for mental health and well-being in the US. Previously, Tyler led Total Health at Kaiser Permanente, applying system payroll, purchasing and investment portfolios to benefit the economic, social and environmental contributors to health. He was on the Board of Trustees of Naropa University for a decade (2012-2023), serving as its Board Chair for his last two years.

Over the decades Tyler helped start Step Denver; facilitated the opening of the Abraham Path through the heart of the Middle East; was founding president and CEO of Community Initiatives and Trendbenders LLC, as well as founding board chair of IP3, the social enterprise that gave birth to the Community Commons, a GIS data mapping and stories platform. In the early 1990’s, Tyler led the Kuhiston Foundation to help establish the national park system and micro-finance in Tajikistan.

Tyler is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Executive Leadership Program, earned a Master of Divinity from Naropa University, and has a bachelor’s degree in World Political Economy from Colorado College. He lives and serves in the communities of the Wood River Valley of Idaho and Oakland, California.

Executive Director

Opportunity Insights

Sarah Oppenheimer is Executive Director at Opportunity Insights. She guides OI’s strategies to foster economic opportunity for all, leads OI’s organizational and administrative structures, and focuses on ensuring that OI’s research and data have impacts in both academic and policy spaces.

Sarah’s work focuses on the intersection of research, policy, and practice, working toward approaches that bring sectors together toward more effective and equitable outcomes. She previously served as the Director of Research and Evaluation for the King County Housing Authority, led cross-sector research at the Harvard School of Public Health’s Division of Public Health Practice and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s Center for Community-Based Research, and worked on evaluations for Building Changes and Abt Associates. Sarah was inspired to pursue research application and policy directions after early work as a case manager and housing service provider – experiences with wise families and residents that have continued to inform her subsequent work.

Sarah received her BA from the University of Vermont, Masters in Public Health from Harvard University, and Masters in Public Policy from the University of Washington. She was a Social Policy Research Fellow at UW’s West Coast Poverty Center, the recipient of the Harvard School of Public Health’s Albert Schweitzer Award and the UW Center for Statistics in Social Sciences Blacklock Fellowship, and has authored numerous papers on housing and social policy, health disparities, and related topics.

Chair

Roots Indianapolis

Wildstyle Paschall is a United Northwest Area (UNWA) native and lifelong Indianapolis resident.

He is a writer, photographer, musician and editor-in-chief of All317Hiphop photography blog.

He also is a member of The Learning Tree, an Indianapolis Foundation Neighborhood Ambassador and has worked with many community groups on various initiatives from community gardens to community art projects to affordable housing.

Wildstyle Paschall is a United Northwest Area (UNWA) native and lifelong Indianapolis resident.

Health & Well-being Design Leader

HKS

Erin K. Peavey, AIA is an award-winning architect, researcher, and renowned thought leader on the power of the built environment to foster well-being and human connection. Peavey is vice president and health and well-being design leader at the global design firm, HKS, where she helps integrate research and practice to advance design for health, combat loneliness, and foster resilience across the globe. Erin is an Industry Scholar with Cornell University’s Institute for Healthy Futures, an advisor with Texas A&M University’s College of Architecture and is a frequent keynote speaker and guest lecturer across the globe. She is co-lead of the Foundation for Social Connection’s 2024 report on the built environment, an industry scholar with Cornell’s Institute for Healthy Futures, and podcast host of Shared Space. Peavey’s path breaking work has been featured on The New York Times, TEDx, BBC Radio 4, Bloomberg, and Psychology Today.

Affiliate Consultant

Designed Learning

With over 15 years of experience in cross-cultural and cross-sector collaborations, Derek Peebles is a prominent figure in community economic development. As a proponent of sustainable economic growth, he brings together various businesses, residents, and institutions, leveraging the combined power of private, public, and social capital to create transformative opportunities.

Currently, Derek holds a senior position at a national sustainability organization, where he plays a pivotal role in establishing influential peer networks, advocating for policy shifts, promoting place-based finance, and investing in revitalized local economies.

Previously, Derek spearheaded an organization that supported a vast network of 60 independent business alliances across 32 states, benefiting over 50,000 small business owners. This initiative uplifted local businesses, contributing to community-driven economic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Drawing on Peter Block’s Six Conversations, Derek facilitates meaningful dialogue between community and economic developers, fund managers, impact investors, advocacy groups, small business associations, faith-based institutions and frontline communities. By focusing on inherent strengths and the power of connected conversations, Derek empowers diverse stakeholders to collaborate effectively. Through his work, Derek unlocks the potential of both individuals and communities, ensuring that investment strategies align closely with the aspirations and needs of the communities he serves.

Passionate about forging meaningful partnerships and advancing inclusive economic strategies, Derek resides in Cincinnati, OH. He holds an M.B.A. in Organizational Leadership and a B.A. in Public Relations from Eastern Kentucky University.

Founder & CEO

Advocates for Community Transformation

J. Reid Porter is the Founder and CEO of Act (Advocates for Community Transformation), a Christian, place-based, justice organization that makes neighborhoods safer and stronger by empowering residents to fight crime on their streets, through shutting down drug houses.

Act’s legal advocacy model is a private solution to the public problem these drug houses pose. It takes existing civil laws to bring legal action on behalf of concerned residents against the owners of the drug houses to get an injunction forcing the owner to cease the illegal activity. Motivated to carry out justice as an expression of Christ’s call to love our neighbor, Act’s innovative approach disrupts this fight and provides a winning solution that brings neighbors, law enforcement, pro bono attorneys and the church together to tackle this entrenched problem that plagues every major city in the United States.

Reid holds a J.D. from St. Mary's University School of Law where he was an editor on the law review and received a B.A. in history and minor in Spanish from the University Of Texas at Austin. Prior to founding Act, Reid was a trial lawyer in Dallas and served as a volunteer in the historically underserved neighborhood of West Dallas. He is a Manhattan Institute Civil Societies Fellowship Alumnus, a Stand Together Foundation Catalyst Partner, and a Praxis Fellow. Reid’s work has been featured in Forbes, WORLD Magazine, The Dallas Morning News, and DMagazine. Reid lives in Dallas, Texas with his beautiful wife and four amazing children.

Practitioner Fellow

The Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia

Sam Pressler is a Practitioner Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, a Research Affiliate at the Harvard Human Flourishing Program, and the author of Connective Tissue, a policy framework for the role of government in regenerating connection in American communities. In his past life, he founded and led the Armed Services Arts Partnership, America’s largest community arts organization serving veterans and their families.

Founder & CEO

Recast City

Ilana Preuss is the Founder of Recast City LLC, and author of Recast Your City: How to Save Your Downtown with Small-Scale Manufacturing. Preuss’ consulting firm works with local leaders, real estate developers, city and other civic leaders to integrate space for small-scale producers into redevelopment projects and place-based economic development through its premier program, Recast Leaders. She is passionate about making great places and sees that small-scale manufacturers are a missing piece in today’s real estate and economic development efforts.

Ms. Preuss’ book, Recast Your City: How to Save your Downtown with Small-Scale Manufacturing, was released by Island Press in 2021. In 2017, Ms. Preuss coauthored, Made in PLACE: Small-scale manufacturing and placemaking, in partnership with Smart Growth America and funded by a grant from U.S. EDA, and she co-authored, Discovering Your City’s Maker Economy, for National League of Cities, in partnership with Etsy and Urban Manufacturing Alliance.

With over 25 years of experience in community development, Ms. Preuss projects at Recast City span the country – from Washington, D.C. to Honolulu, HI. Through work with small-scale manufacturing business owners, real estate developers, foundations, city planning and economic development offices, improvement districts, and mayors, the projects go from idea to action to build great places with vibrant economies.

Ilana also leads a national program, through a grant from the US Economic Development Administration, to improve on the revolving loan funding program and better achieve equitable outcomes with small business lending, as well as a led a partnership with the Local Initiatives Support Corp (LISC) to support implementation of the Community-Centered Economic Inclusion program.

Ms. Preuss is an experienced speaker, see her TEDx presentation, “The Economic Power of Great Places,” and keynote speeches at statewide planning, main street, and downtown conferences and as a featured speaker at national conferences such as the International Economic Development Council and Main Street America.

Previously, Ilana was Vice President & Chief of Staff at Smart Growth America and worked in the US EPA Smart Growth Division, and served on the Board of Directors for the national non-profit, Incremental Development Alliance.

Director

The Hopeful Neighborhood Project

Jennifer Prophete is the Director of The Hopeful Neighborhood Project. The Hopeful Neighborhood Project is dedicated to helping everyday neighbors pursue the common good, right where they live. Jennifer has spent 20 years working in the fields of urban education, community development, and non-profit leadership. As a native of rural Nebraska, she grew up with a strong sense of the power of community. Her desire to live in community, no matter the neighborhood context, has been a driving force in her life and work.

Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree from Concordia University-Nebraska in elementary education with certificates in English-as-an-Other-Language, special education, and early childhood education. She received an MBA from the University of Saint Mary. Jennifer and her husband live in Saint Charles, MO with their three young children and among their amazing neighbors.

Managing Director, American Cities Program

The Kresge Foundation

Chantel leads the American Cities Program at the Kresge Foundation. American Cites stewards the foundation’s place-based work in Memphis, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Fresno, California. The team is also responsible for the foundation’s national community development portfolio, including funding knowledge exchange among community development practitioners; national community development intermediaries; innovative, scalable solutions; pioneering research; and city-based dialogues aimed at promoting effective practice and policy.

Founding Director, Nurture Development

Nurture Development & Asset-Based Community Development Institute

For more than thirty years, Cormac has been fascinated by how people and places weave together to find common purpose. Like a three-legged stool, the themes of people, place, and purpose have grounded and defined his life and work. He was raised in County Limerick, in the west of Ireland, in the village of Patrickswell.

In the early 1990s, Cormac began working with the Irish Health Board, as it was known at that time. Professionally trained in therapeutic approaches and psychological models, he worked with children and young people who were wards of court, attempting to support them into community care settings in neighborhoods, as far away from formal institutions as possible. It was here that he learned the limits of institutional interventions, especially well-intended ones. It became painfully clear to him that taking young people who had experienced profound disruption and trauma and placing them in a new house in a strange neighborhood with others who had similar stories was not a genuine expression of “community care.”

This work triggered a question that haunted him for many years and still drives him to this day: How many others are at the edge of our communities, living in our neighborhoods, but apart from us in every other sense? This question has come to define Cormac and his work. It was on the back of this question that he discovered John McKnight. Cormac and John’s connection blossomed into a deep friendship and working collaboration that has spanned more than two decades.

In 1996, Cormac established Nurture Development, a social enterprise dedicated to discovering meaningful ways to build communities from the inside out, with a real welcome for the stranger at the edge. Since then, his work has contributed to the emergence of more community-centered approaches in four continents. In 2015, he published Asset-Based Community Development: Looking Back to Look Forward, which provides an insight into the intellectual heritage of ABCD and traces the people who had the most influence on John McKnight’s thinking.

In 2020, Cormac published his second book, Rekindling Democracy: A Professional’s Guide to Working in Citizen Space, in which he sets out his vision for deeper local democracy and argues that the way to get there is to realize that neighborhoods are the most important unit of change.

It in his lastest book, coauthored with John McKKight, he addresses the third leg of the stool: purpose. Writing The Connected Community with John has enabled Cormac to bring the three legs of the stool even closer together. His curiosity about people has settled on the question of the Connected Community. His focus on place has landed on neighborhoods, and his interest in purpose has become about restoring a culture of community.
Cormac lives with his wife, Colleen, and their children and neighbors in South County Dublin. You can visit his website at nurturedevelopment.org and communityrenewal.learnworlds.com

President & CEO

Communities in Schools

Director of Operations, Place-Based Initiatives

Stand Together Foundation

Anna has spent the last 15 years building partnerships with nonprofits, businesses, thought leaders, influencers, and other social entrepreneurs who share in her vision of a more humane society in which all people are empowered to realize their potential. This work has largely taken place through the Stand Together community where she has held roles in partnerships, talent development, education programs, and operations. She is currently focused on building Radius, a place-based strategic initiative within the Stand Together Foundation to empower social entrepreneurs who are passionate about transforming their cities and neighborhoods through bottom-up innovations that strengthen the social fabric and establish a strong foundation upon which people can flourish. Though her work keeps her on the road, she calls Wichita, KS home.

Trust Neighborhoods

Co-founder & COO

Kavya has dedicated her career to creating more equitable communities. She is co-founder and COO of Trust Neighborhoods, a national nonprofit that helps neighborhoods worried about gentrification own their own mixed-income rental housing. Trust Neighborhoods has helped set-up mixed-income neighborhood trusts, or MINTs, in 5 neighborhoods across the country, which in total own over 240 units of housing. Prior to Trust Neighborhoods, she has helped young people get more civically active through helping start The Obama Foundation and has supported access to economic opportunity through her policy work at the Obama White House. She started her career at McKinsey and Company, focused on local and state economic development. She has lived in a total of eight cities across the country, allowing her to learn about a diversity of neighborhoods. She has a BA in economics from Harvard College and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Vice President, Community Initiatives

NeighborWorks America

As Vice President of Community Initiatives, Paul Singh leads NeighborWorks America's support for comprehensive community development e orts that build vibrant local communities that provide equitable opportunities for people to thrive. Singh oversees the Stable Communities, Community Building and Engagement, Rural and Healthy Homes and Communities Initiatives and the work of these teams to elevate and strengthen local practice through grant making, technical assistance, capacity building, peer-to-peer learning, demonstration projects, stakeholder convenings, and research.

Prior to joining NeighborWorks in 2012, Singh was a Program Officer at LISC where he managed multiple programs delivering technical assistance and training to nonprofits. Singh got his start in community development at Historic Saint Paul, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the historic character of his hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota. He has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota and an undergraduate degree from Macalester College.