Community Development Projects

Today many children grow up in environments that stifle their creative potential and do long-term damage to their physical and emotional health. It has been my goal to contribute to improving the conditions children grow up under.  That is why I became an economist.

Urban League of Portland, Oregon
As director of education of the Urban League of Greater Portland, Oregon (then under the leadership of Herb Cawthorne), and director of the Financial Services Academy (a joint venture of the Portland Public School District and the Urban League, chaired at the time by W. Charles "Chuck" Long, then senior vice president at US Bancorp), I initiated, expanded, and/or improved a number of community development programs. Education Division programs included the Jefferson High School Financial Services Academy (targeting "high risk" youth and achieving record low drop-out rates), the Whitney Young Learning Center (directed by Deborah Cochrane), and the Youth Entrepreneurial Skills Program.

First Nations Development Institute
As a consultant for First Nations (under the leadership of Rebecca Adamson), I participated in the development of the Lakota Fund, conducted workshops at Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, co-wrote (with Gini Egan) a manual on regional economic impact studies (REIS), and carried out a wide range of such REIS analyses at reservations around the United States. The basic conclusion of the REIS analyses was that the economic impact of reservations upon the regions within which they were located was positive (and statistically significant), despite the relatively low level of economic development, weak rates of economic growth, and high rates of unemployment on the reservations. A policy implication of the studies was that fostering higher rates of economic growth and more sustainable economic development would be beneficial not only on the reservations but to the entire region within which the reservation is located.

United Nations Development Program
As a consultant for UNDP, I helped to develop a revolving loan fund for the Belize Rural Women's Association (BRWA) -- promoting the economic independence of women throughout this Central American nation, and conducted workshops for BRWA cooperatives in a wide range of communities, including Dangriga, the Valley of Peace, the village of Double Head Cabbage, San Antonio, and Punta Gorda.  I also advised BRWA (under the leadership of Cynthia Ellis and Lucia Engleton) in the creation of a centralized marketing operation in Belmopan. Click here to read more about the BRWA program.

Rural Development Leadership Network
Since graduate school I've been the academic coordinator of programs designed to train rural professionals to be more effective leaders, first with the National Rural Fellows (NRF) Masters in Regional Planning Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and then with the Rural Development Leadership Network, led by NRF founder Starry Krueger. Through RDLN, emerging leaders from poor rural areas spearhead development projects and design related study through which they may earn a certificate or academic credential (B.A., M.A., or Ph.D.). Past graduates include Unita Blackwell, Winona LaDuke, Shirley Sherrod, Birgil Kills Straight, Mily Treviño-Sauceda, Shoua Vang, Julie Moss, Juan Babauta, Wesley "Chuck" Jacobs, and Mississippi State Senator Robert Jackson.