MEET THE COMMUNITY INNOVATORS

Each Innovator featured below is pursuing an innovation with the potential to address the devaluation of homes in Black-majority neighborhoods as part of the earlier Collaborative Challenge.

featured innovators

Amanda Alexander

Detroit Justice Center
Detroit, Michigan

Ashley Allen

Houston Community Land Trust
Houston, Texas

Roshun Austin

The Works, Inc.
Memphis, Tennessee

Gianna Baker

Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance
Chicago, Illinois

John Bartlett

Metropolitan Tenants Organization
Chicago, Illinois

Jonathan Brown

Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners
Palm Beach County, Florida

Kwasi Frye

SayLambda
Washington, D.C.

Lance George

Housing Assistance Council
Washington, D.C.

Marisela Gomez

Village of Love and Resistance, VOLAR
Baltimore, Maryland

John Green

Blackstar Stability Investment Management LLC
Washington, D.C

Bree Jones

Parity Homes
Baltimore, Maryland

Ericka Kelly

Greater Milwaukee Committee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Tamara Knox

Frolic Community LLC
Seattle, Washington

John Liss

True Footage Inc.
Seattle, Washington

Adrian Madriz

Struggle for Miami’s Affordable and Sustainable Housing, Inc.
Miami, Florida

William Martinez

Martinez & Associates
Vacaville, California

Andreanecia Morris

HousingNOLA
New Orleans, Louisiana

Zach Murray

The Guild
Atlanta, Georgia

Maya Porter

Growth Spots International, Inc.
Louisville, Kentucky

Santhosh Ramdoss

Gary Community Ventures
Denver, Colorado

Veronica Reed

Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative
New Orleans, Louisiana

Carlos Robles-Shanahan

Duo Development
Chicago, Illinois

Scot Rose

Class Valuation
Troy, Michigan

Ellen Sahli

Family Housing Fund
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Charu Singh

Humane Works LLC
New York, New York

Anna Thompson

City of Detroit
Detroit, Michigan

Rosalind Williams

WITH ACTION
St. Louis, Missouri

Evelyn Zwiebach

Enterprise Community Partners
Detroit, Michigan

Articles

People-centered placemaking: How Maryland’s Just Communities Act reshapes public investment

Led by Spotlight Innovator Cat Goughnour, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Division of Just Communities is pioneering a reparative approach to public investment through the Just Communities designation—the first of its kind in the nation—to target funds to historically disinvested areas. From… Read More
Oct 7, 2025

Episode 9: How does the growing risk of extreme weather impact insurance?

In this week’s conversation, host Stuart Yasgur sits down with the AVP for Economics and Policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, Carolyn Kousky, to discuss how the increased risk to our homes in the face of extreme weather events is increasing the cost of our insurance, and potentially limiting our… Read More
Oct 6, 2025

Episode 8: How can we reduce the risk from wildfire?

Our fire risk in our own homes and communities is not always a discussion of if, but a matter of when.   When it comes to wildfire mitigation, there are many ways we’ve collectively increased our risk profile by failing to understand which variables are most likely to increase our risk… Read More
Sep 29, 2025
More articles