in short:

work

community development, city of madison · affordable housing policy + funding

service

president, american planning association - wisconsin chapter

credentials

aicp · ged, minnesota department of education

home

madison, wi, now · minneapolis, forever

i’m a ‘systems person,’ and i believe housing is the most foundational aspect of every single person’s life.

i’m a child of divorce, was homeless/car camped in my teen years, and evicted from my 2nd favorite apartment i ever lived in because i couldn’t afford to pay my rent.

a lot of my work is trying to make city government clearer, easier to understand, and more equitable. almost always long-term planning to support people who live here and/or want to. but also sometimes leading processes to help get people what they need right now.

i work for the city of madison in community development, where i lead our funding processes for affordable housing. that means a lot of time creating policy and negotiating with developers, some spreadsheets, plenty of loan documents, and then sticking with the projects through closing and lease-up until people are actually living there. most of it is trying to get different systems (and people) to line up, which is harder than it sounds.

i care a lot about things like tenant selection plans and whether a unit set aside for someone actually gets to them (the living parts of the building). it’s work centered in service, and i try not to forget that even when things get really frustrating.

outside of day to day work, i’m currently president of the american planning association - wisconsin chapter.

i’ll also make time for anyone trying to figure out where they fit in this work (students, career changers, people who never thought of themselves as planners). hit me up.