Andrea Ó Súilleabháin is the executive director of the Partnership for the Public Good, which she joined as Deputy Director in May 2017. She leads PPG’s work on criminal justice reform and community policing, immigrant rights and language access policies, and the annual Community Agenda. Previously, Andrea was a Research Fellow at the International Peace Institute in New York, focused on bringing community voices to United Nations policymaking and increasing women’s participation in peace talks. Her research has informed UN policy and U.S. law and has been cited by Foreign Policy, The Guardian, PBS, and other news sources. Andrea has worked as a lawyer on refugee cases in the U.S. and Ireland, on ending the death penalty in the state of Indiana, and on peacebuilding in countries from South Africa to Sri Lanka.
Equitable Economic Recovery After COVID-19
Event Overview
These types of local COVID-19 responses demonstrate the potential and possibilities of a cooperative economy that puts people and planet ahead of profit. Successful place-based solutions can be upscaled and linked into a unified framework for post-pandemic equitable economic recovery.
What You'll Learn
- Why “social infrastructure” and community networks are so important in emergency response
- How grassroots organizations and local governments are coming up with some of the best policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
- How research, data, and university resources have informed pandemic response
- The role of arts, culture, and preservation in equity, resilience, and reinvestment
- What the pandemic has taught us about public policies regarding work and community development
Speakers
Jennifer Minner investigates urban change, building reuse, and community memory in all manner of places – from commercial strips to mega-event sites. Her research and teaching focus on land-use/spatial planning, historic preservation, and community development. Jennifer is particularly interested in methods of sustainable adaptation of the built environment and community preservation. In recent years, her work has addressed equitable preservation and reinvestment; historical memory in urban landscapes; and creative and critical approaches to the technologies used to analyze, visualize, and shape places. Jennifer presently serves on the National Conference Committee of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning and is a co-chair of the Technology, Society, and Analytical Methods track. Her educational background includes a BA in anthropology from the University of Washington, an MURP from Portland State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Rahwa Ghirmatzion is the executive director of People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo), a community organization that works at the grassroots level to create and implement a comprehensive revitalization plan for Buffalo’s West Side. In this role, Rahwa oversees the organization’s programs and day-to-day operations, which have grown to include housing construction, solar installation, job training, and a youth center, as well as outreach and advocacy on public policy issues facing urban communities. PUSH employs 40 people and has renovated more than 100 high-quality homes over the past seven years. For more than 15 years, Rahwa has worked with community-based organizations in Western New York that promote community development. She was executive director of Ujima Company, Inc., a multi-ethnic professional theater company whose primary purpose is the preservation, perpetuation, and performance of African-American theater. Rahwa was the recipient of the 2017 Community Commitment Award from VOICE Buffalo and the 2013 Community Leaders Arts Award from the National Federation for Just Communities.
Russell Weaver, Ph.D., is a geographer, quantitative social scientist, and Director of Research at the Cornell ILR School Buffalo Co-Lab. He was previously an associate professor in the Texas State University Department of Geography, where he taught courses in community geography, community development, urban planning, geographic thought, and quantitative data analysis. Dr. Weaver’s research programs are aimed at understanding and contributing to pathways for context-sensitive, sustainable, and equitable community change. He is the lead author of the book “Shrinking Cities: Understanding Urban Decline in the United States.” Find him on Twitter @RustBeltGeo.
Sam Magavern is senior policy fellow at Partnership for the Public Good, a community-based think tank that he co-founded in 2007 and co-directed until 2019. He teaches at University at Buffalo Law School and Cornell University’s ILR School, where he was the Visiting Activist Scholar in 2019-2020. Mr. Magavern serves as the attorney for the City of Buffalo Living Wage Commission and as a commissioner on the Niagara River Greenway Commission. His publications range from scholarly articles to comic books; they include a non-fiction book, “Primo Levi’s Universe,” and a book of poetry, “Noah’s Ark.” Mr. Magavern received his B.A. from Harvard University and his J.D. from UCLA Law.
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin is the executive director of the Partnership for the Public Good, which she joined as Deputy Director in May 2017. She leads PPG’s work on criminal justice reform and community policing, immigrant rights and language access policies, and the annual Community Agenda. Previously, Andrea was a Research Fellow at the International Peace Institute in New York, focused on bringing community voices to United Nations policymaking and increasing women’s participation in peace talks. Her research has informed UN policy and U.S. law and has been cited by Foreign Policy, The Guardian, PBS, and other news sources. Andrea has worked as a lawyer on refugee cases in the U.S. and Ireland, on ending the death penalty in the state of Indiana, and on peacebuilding in countries from South Africa to Sri Lanka.
Jennifer Minner investigates urban change, building reuse, and community memory in all manner of places – from commercial strips to mega-event sites. Her research and teaching focus on land-use/spatial planning, historic preservation, and community development. Jennifer is particularly interested in methods of sustainable adaptation of the built environment and community preservation. In recent years, her work has addressed equitable preservation and reinvestment; historical memory in urban landscapes; and creative and critical approaches to the technologies used to analyze, visualize, and shape places. Jennifer presently serves on the National Conference Committee of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning and is a co-chair of the Technology, Society, and Analytical Methods track. Her educational background includes a BA in anthropology from the University of Washington, an MURP from Portland State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Rahwa Ghirmatzion is the executive director of People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo), a community organization that works at the grassroots level to create and implement a comprehensive revitalization plan for Buffalo’s West Side. In this role, Rahwa oversees the organization’s programs and day-to-day operations, which have grown to include housing construction, solar installation, job training, and a youth center, as well as outreach and advocacy on public policy issues facing urban communities. PUSH employs 40 people and has renovated more than 100 high-quality homes over the past seven years. For more than 15 years, Rahwa has worked with community-based organizations in Western New York that promote community development. She was executive director of Ujima Company, Inc., a multi-ethnic professional theater company whose primary purpose is the preservation, perpetuation, and performance of African-American theater. Rahwa was the recipient of the 2017 Community Commitment Award from VOICE Buffalo and the 2013 Community Leaders Arts Award from the National Federation for Just Communities.
Russell Weaver, Ph.D., is a geographer, quantitative social scientist, and Director of Research at the Cornell ILR School Buffalo Co-Lab. He was previously an associate professor in the Texas State University Department of Geography, where he taught courses in community geography, community development, urban planning, geographic thought, and quantitative data analysis. Dr. Weaver’s research programs are aimed at understanding and contributing to pathways for context-sensitive, sustainable, and equitable community change. He is the lead author of the book “Shrinking Cities: Understanding Urban Decline in the United States.” Find him on Twitter @RustBeltGeo.
Sam Magavern is senior policy fellow at Partnership for the Public Good, a community-based think tank that he co-founded in 2007 and co-directed until 2019. He teaches at University at Buffalo Law School and Cornell University’s ILR School, where he was the Visiting Activist Scholar in 2019-2020. Mr. Magavern serves as the attorney for the City of Buffalo Living Wage Commission and as a commissioner on the Niagara River Greenway Commission. His publications range from scholarly articles to comic books; they include a non-fiction book, “Primo Levi’s Universe,” and a book of poetry, “Noah’s Ark.” Mr. Magavern received his B.A. from Harvard University and his J.D. from UCLA Law.