Founding President

Live the Life

Richard Albertson is the Founding President of Live the Life, a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening marriages and families. Live the Life has provided relationship and marriage education (RME) programs and services to more than 200,000 graduates individuals across 15 countries and 39 states. Live the Life is internationally recognized in the RME field, and has documented more than 6,000 saved marriages, saving taxpayers more than $240 million.

Senior Strategy and Evaluation Officer

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation

Anne Allen is a Senior Program Officer for Strategy and Evaluation at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. She leads evaluation and learning across the Foundation’s priority communities, partnering with grantees to measure how investments in housing, health, and career pathways help people move out of poverty and build vibrant communities. She works with grantmaking teams to turn data and residents’ priorities into investment strategies. Her work includes community-led development and grantmaking to community development financial institutions that expand capital in disinvested communities.

Anne brings more than a decade of leadership experience in philanthropy, workforce development, and economic mobility. She directed employment and training programs as Vice President of Workforce Services at Goodwill Central Coast and led the Family Success Initiative at the Central Indiana Community Foundation. She serves on Maryland’s Financial Education and Capability Commission and the boards of the Neighborhood Design Center and Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.

Chief Advancement Officer

The EdRedesign Lab at Harvard Graduate School of Education

Julie Allen is Senior Director of Strategic Communications, Development, and Operations at The EdRedesign Lab at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Most recently, Julie was director of strategy and communications at EdRedesign from February 2023 to May 2025 and senior advisor at EdRedesign from January 2022 to February 2023.  Previously, Julie was a Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative 2020 fellow and 2021 senior fellow.  Prior to her fellowship, she had a distinguished career in corporate law, focusing on capital markets, public company M&A transactions, and boardroom governance and counsel. Most recently, she was a senior partner at Proskauer Rose, where, in addition to her practice, her management roles included practice group leadership, new business intake, and risk management. Julie is a member of the board of directors of The Trevor Project, the largest suicide prevention and mental health organization serving LGBTQ+ youth in the U.S. and Mexico.

Founder & Executive Director

The Urban Garden Project

For 25 years, I've built and strengthened impact businesses around simple, nature-based solutions hiding in plain sight: Orange Glo and OxiClean, Teatulia Organic Tea, the mama 'hood, and Denver Urban Gardens. My favorite moments are when people see what was there all along and realize their lives are about to get better.

Now I'm focused on one of the great success stories of our time: the community garden. There are more than 30,000 in the US and 120,000 worldwide, each one a neighborhood that organized itself to build a high-value community asset. They grow food, community, and climate resilience all at once, with a structure that makes them welcoming and sticky. They aren't a hobby. They're essential civic infrastructure and critical third places.

I'm an operator who lives to bring art to life, and community gardens are some of the most beautiful art our cities have ever made. Let's grow!

Co-Founder

Commons Steward Collective

Blaise has over two decades of experience in urban place management, bringing
neighborhood-level and citywide expertise to commercial district revitalization and public
realm stewardship. He currently serves as co-founder of Commons Steward Collective and
principal of Community Steward Solutions, assisting neighborhood-based organizations,
parks and public space groups, and civic tech companies in forging shared solutions for
decentralized, locally governed place management. As former Deputy Commissioner of
Neighborhood Development at NYC Department of Small Business Services, he oversaw
the nation's largest network of BIDs while transforming city support for commercial
corridors through multi-year grant programs, data collection tools, and capacity-building
initiatives. His ten-year leadership of Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership demonstrated the
transformative potential of community-driven economic development. Prior to NYC, Blaise
was an information technology consultant working in Washington D.C., Düsseldorf, and
Madrid. He holds degrees from NYU Wagner and University of Virginia.

Co- Founder, President

The Voices project

Leroy Barber is a pastor, author, speaker, and community leader recognized for his commitment to faith, racial reconciliation, social justice, and community transformation. Throughout his career has brought people together, built relationships across cultural and racial differences to create positive change.

Decades of experience in ministry and nonprofit leadership, Leroy develops opportunities for underserved communities and encouraged churches to address social challenges. His dedication to justice, diversity, and inclusion has made him an influential voice in discussions about faith, leadership, and community development.
An author, Leroy combines storytelling, personal experience, and biblical principles to inspire purposeful, compassionate living. His work highlights authentic relationships, courageous leadership, and inclusive communities.

As a mentor and advocate, Leroy challenges individuals and organizations to move beyond differences and pursue meaningful change. His mission reflects his belief that faith should be expressed through love, service, justice, and a commitment to building stronger, healthier, more connected communities.

President & CEO

Main Street America

Erin Barnes is President & CEO of Main Street America. Born and raised in Virginia, Erin now calls Brooklyn, New York, home. She began her career in independent book and music stores in Charlottesville and Alexandria, Virginia, then after college went into community organizing in the Pacific Northwest. After completing her masters at Yale in water economics, where she did research in Nicaragua, Bolivia and Brazil, Erin worked as an environmental writer for the United Nations, Vice President Al Gore, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Men's Journal Magazine. Erin is one of three founders of ioby, a national nonprofit technology company that funded resident-led neighborhood projects. For her work at ioby, the Rockefeller Foundation awarded her the Jane Jacobs Medal and President & Mrs. Obama welcomed her into the inaugural class of Obama Foundation Fellows.

President & CEO

Educational Alliance

Richard Baum has served as President and CEO of Educational Alliance, a leading New York City settlement house and social services nonprofit, since June 2023. He brings extensive leadership experience across higher education, nonprofit organizations, and government.

Previously, Mr. Baum served for 11 years as Chief of Staff to the President of New York University, overseeing institutional strategy, policy implementation, and major university initiatives. Before that, he was Chief Operating Officer of the New York Academy of Sciences, where he oversaw operations and developed innovative programs and partnerships.

Mr. Baum also spent nearly a decade in New York State government, serving as Secretary to the Governor and Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, advising on strategy and overseeing operations. He began his public service career in the Orange County Legislature, where he served as Democratic Minority Leader.

Mr. Baum earned his Bachelor of Arts in History from Cornell University.

Senior Fellow

Kresge Foundation

Jennifer Bradley is a senior fellow at The Kresge Foundation. Jennifer supports the American Cities Program at Kresge through convenings and thought leadership. She joined the foundation in 2021. Previously, Jennifer served as the director of the Center for Urban Innovation at the Aspen Institute, where she focused on inclusive innovation and equitable economic development strategies in cities.

Jennifer has also held positions with the Brookings Institution, where she co-authored The Metropolitan Revolution and developed state-level strategies to support metropolitan economic growth, and with the Constitutional Accountability Center, where she co-authored amicus briefs in major appellate cases that supported environmental protections and community development.

Chief Executive Officer

Lawndale Christian Health Center

Rev. Dr. James Brooks is a leader and resident of Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. Currently serving as CEO of Lawndale Christian Health Center, he plays a pivotal role in advancing community health and well-being.
He’s also the lead pastor of Harmony Community Church. He holds a DMin and MDiv from Northern Theological Seminary, as well as a bachelor’s degree in management from Concordia University. He has also received certifications from the University of Illinois, the University of California- Los Angeles, Harvard University, and the University of Kansas.
He is happily married to Jackie Brooks, and together they share a passion for serving others and building stronger communities.
Beyond his professional and pastoral work, he is deeply engaged in community development. He is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc and serves on the boards of North Lawndale College Prep, Reclaiming Chicago, and the Illinois State Medical Board.

Lead Pastor

Lawndale Christian Community Church

Rev. Dr. Jonathan Brooks is a lifelong resident of Chicago, IL and currently serves as Lead Pastor at Lawndale Christian Community Church and the Chief Inspiration Officer for Lawndale Christian Ministries which includes Lawndale Christian Health Center, Lawndale Christian Development Corporation and Lawndale Christian Legal Center.
 
Pastah J, as he is affectionately called, is a sought-after speaker, writer, artist, organizer and community developer.  He has contributed to numerous blogs, articles and books and is the author of the book Church Forsaken: Practicing Presence in Neglected Neighborhoods.  
 
Jonathan has a Bachelor of Architecture from Tuskegee University, Master of Arts in Teaching from National Louis University, as well as a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Northern Seminary with an emphasis in Christian Community Development. He is married to Micheál Newman-Brooks, has two beautiful children and lives in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago.

Executive Directors

National Association of Neighborhoods

Ricardo C. Byrd serves as the Executive Director of the National Association of Neighborhoods (NAN), with over forty years of management experience directing grass-roots programs on America’s social and economic development challenges. Mr. Byrd has also served as a public policy catalyst, a community outreach strategist and resource person to the White House, Congressional, state and local government officials, corporations and neighborhood leaders.

NAN is one of the nation’s oldest multi-issue associations of grass-roots neighborhood organizations. NAN’s purpose is to empower neighborhood organizations with the technical resources to take more responsibility for improving their quality of life. The association works with diverse national non-profits and with groups ranging from block clubs to city-wide neighborhood coalitions.

NAN works hard to include the grass-roots perspective on national and local policy issues. The association has become a specialist at coalition building and facilitating urban and rural neighborhood leadership briefings and forums.

CEO

Majora Carter Group LLC

Majora Carter is a real estate developer, urban revitalization strategy consultant, MacArthur Fellow and Peabody Award winning broadcaster. She's responsible for the creation of numerous economic development, technology inclusion and green-infrastructure projects, policies and job training & placement systems. She is also a lecturer at Princeton University's Keller Center.
Majora is quoted on the walls of the Smithsonian Museum of African-American History and Culture in DC: "Nobody should have to move out of their neighborhood to live in a better one” - which is also the subtitle of her 2022 book, Reclaiming Your Community.

Editorial and Movement Operations Lead

Flourishing Neighborhoods

Sarah Caton Walters works at the intersection of strategic communications, storytelling, and civic life. She serves in communications leadership roles with Flourishing Neighborhoods, a national initiative advancing neighborhood-centered approaches to community change, and Greater Clark Foundation, where she is Director of Communications, supporting community well-being across Central Appalachia through strategic messaging, narrative change, and storytelling.

Sarah also serves as Communications Coordinator for the Monuments Workshop at the University of Kentucky and supports conversations about history, public memory, and the places that shape our communities.

With more than a decade of experience spanning philanthropy, higher education, and the private sector, Sarah is also the founder of Space, Place & Southern Grace, LLC, a creative practice through which she has partnered with national brands including HBO and NBC Sports. She is passionate about strengthening local information ecosystems and the role of storytelling and media literacy in fostering connection, belonging, and community resilience.

Senior Director, Community Initiatives

NeighborWorks America

Elizabeth Druback Celaya currently serves as Senior Director, Community Initiatives for NeighborWorks America, a national intermediary working to create opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives and strengthen their communities.

At NeighborWorks America Elizabeth supports efforts across the country to build vibrant local communities that provide equitable opportunities for people to thrive, with a focus on advancing comprehensive, place-based, and resident-led strategies. Elizabeth joined the NeighborWorks America team in 2022 after twenty years with Hudson River Housing, Inc., a nonprofit housing and community development organization based in Poughkeepsie, NY, where she spearheaded the creation of several place-based initiatives that included community leadership development, neighborhood marketing, cultural events, and economic development, and provided leadership on communications, program design, strategy, and resource development.

Elizabeth is a graduate of Vassar College and holds a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management from The New School.