Who’s speaking at Baltimore Data Week!

Monday July 20th

1:00-2:00 PM Introduction to Vital Signs

Seema D. Iyer, PhD, Associate Director, Jacob France Institute 
Twitter: @seemadiyer @bniajfi

• Dr. Iyer oversees the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance-Jacob France Institute (BNIA-JFI) at the University of Baltimore. This award-winning project annually prepares the Vital Signs report and open data compendium for all of Baltimore’s neighborhoods, and uses these data for research and evaluation of urban policies and trends. BNIA-JFI is part of the Urban Institute’s National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership of sites that provide longitudinal, community-based data on demographics, housing, crime, education and sustainability. Academically, she is the director of the undergraduate program in the Real Estate & Economic Development at the University of Baltimore. Her doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning is from the University of Michigan.  

3:00-4:30 PM Opening Plenary 

Peter Dolkart, Regional Community Development Manager Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

• Peter M. Dolkart serves as the Regional Community Development Manager for Maryland and Greater Washington, D.C. for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The Community Development team applies an understanding of economic issues and community development tools to strengthen low- and moderate-income communities across the Fifth District through sharing data-supported community investment strategies that promote financial mobility, improve access to credit and information, and support innovations that lead to economic growth. Prior to joining the Richmond Fed, Peter was the Director of Legislative Affairs at Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. He also served previously as the Special Assistant for Legislation at the Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development and in a dual appointment as an Assistant State’s Attorney and Special Assistant City Solicitor.  He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree from Johns Hopkins University, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law where he lead the Student Bar Association. He was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 2004. He is a graduate of both Leadership Maryland and the Greater Baltimore Committee Leadership programs. He is a board member of the Community Development Network of Maryland. 

Josh Sharfstein, JHU Bloomberg American Health Initiative Director

Twitter: @drJoshS 

• Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein is Director of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement, and Professor of the Practice in Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Previously, Dr. Sharfstein served as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, as Principal Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and as Commissioner of Health for Baltimore City.  Dr. Sharfstein is the author of the Public Health Crisis Survival Guide: Leadership and Management in Trying Times (2018).  During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Sharfstein has advised public health officials across the country, as well as Mayors and Governors. He has written articles on COVID-19 for the Journal of the American Medical Association, The New York Times, Politico, The USA Today, and other publications. 

Michael B. Kelly, Baltimore Metropolitan Council Executive Director
Twitter: @BaltoMetroCo
Facebook: @BaltimoreMetropolitanCouncil
Instagram: @baltometroco

• Michael Kelly is the executive director of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, the council of governments serving greater Baltimore.  Prior to his appointment as executive director, Mike served as general counsel and director of government relations for the organization.   From 2011 – 2015, Mike served as the director of the Opportunity Collaborative, a coalition of stakeholders who developed Baltimore’s Regional Plan for Sustainable Development.  Mike holds his bachelor’s degree from Loyola University and Juris Doctor with a concentration in Public & Governmental Service from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Jenny Schuetz, Fellow, Brookings Institution
Twitter: @jenny_schuetz 

• Jenny Schuetz is a fellow with Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and the Future of the Middle Class Initiative. Dr. Schuetz is an expert in urban economics and housing policy, focusing particularly on housing affordability. She has written extensively on land use regulation, housing prices, urban amenities, and neighborhood change. She has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, PBS NewsHour, Washington Post, CNN, The Economist, and Vox. Before joining Brookings, Dr. Schuetz served as a Principal Economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. She was also an assistant professor at the University of Southern California and a post-doctoral fellow at New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. She is a non-resident Senior Fellow at GWU’s Center for Washington Area Studies and teaches in Georgetown’s urban planning program. Dr. Schuetz earned her PhD in Public Policy from Harvard University, a Master’s in City Planning from M.I.T., and a B.A. with Highest Distinction in Economics and Political and Social Thought from the University of Virginia. Twitter: @jenny_schuetz 

 

6:00-7:00 PM COVID-19 Dashboards 

Amen Ra Mashariki, Global Director of Data Lab, World Resources Institute

Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, MD, Baltimore City Commissioner of Health
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram: @Drtishcommish 

• Dr. Letitia Dzirasa joined Baltimore City government as the Commissioner of Health in March 2019. Dr. Dzirasa, a Hopkins trained pediatrician, believes that equitable care is basic right for all and will tirelessly advocate for programs that support the overall health and wellbeing of all Baltimore city residents.  Dr. Dzirasa’s special interests include obesity management and prevention, trauma informed care in children and adolescents, and expanded use of technology to improve health outcomes.   Prior to joining the Health Department, Dr. Dzirasa worked at Fearless Solutions (Fearless), a Baltimore based digital services firm that builds custom software solutions for local and federal government clients. In her role at Fearless as Health Innovation Officer, Dr. Dzirasa was responsible for managing the Healthcare IT portfolio for the company and provided clinical subject matter expertise to HIT projects. Dr. Dzirasa also has close clinical ties to the Baltimore community, having trained at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in pediatrics and having worked as medical director for school based health and quality at Baltimore Medical System from 2013-2016.    In addition to holding a B.S. from University of Maryland, Baltimore County in biological sciences, Dr. Dzirasa graduated from Meharry Medical College, Summa Cum Laude, in 2007.  Sh e lives in downtown Baltimore with her husband and son.

Natalie Schultz-Henry, CitiStat Analyst, Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation

• Natalie Schultz-Henry is a CitiStat analyst with the Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation. She enjoys working with data to improve efficiency, equity, transparency and accountability in the delivery of government service. Natalie holds a bachelor’s degree in Computing and the Arts from Yale University with a focus on data visualization and graphic design. While in college, she co-founded Engender, a student organization which advocates for the principles of equity and inclusion on campus. Previous projects include the visualization of personal technology habits in web and print, and an interactive visualization of the federal judiciary. 

Mary Conway Vaughan, Senior Program Coordinator, Centers for Civic Impact at Johns Hopkins University 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/civicimpact/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/civicimpact_jhu
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/civicimpact_jhu/ 

• Mary Conway Vaughan is a Senior Program Coordinator within the Centers for Civic Impact  at Johns Hopkins University. A lifelong resident of Baltimore, Mary’s spent her career managing projects in a wide variety of arenas—marketing & media production; higher education; educational non-profits; and software development. As a graduate of Georgetown University, she’s fully embraced the philosophy of using her skills and talents in service of others. 

Cheryl Knott, GIS Project Manager, Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance-Jacob France Institute

• Cheryl Knott is the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Project Manager for the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance-Jacob France Institute. For over a decade, Cheryl has worked to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of community indicators that describe the quality of life for Baltimore City communities. She coordinates with staff and external data-creating agencies to produce customized statistical and research reports and evaluations that examine neighborhood-level trends on socio-economic characteristics, crime and safety, public health, housing and community development, educational achievement, and sustainability. Cheryl also provides training to the public on using GIS resources, community asset mapping, evidence-based practices, and communicating data for grant writing. She is a proponent of data democratization and has a strong interest in making GIS data open and usable to the public as well as other professionals. Prior to her arrival at BNIA-JFI in 2007, Cheryl studied at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Geography and Environmental Systems and a certification in Cartography in 2007 and a Master’s degree in Applied Sociology in 2013. Her research interests include the relationship between crime and the built environment including developing new quantitative measures for studying urban crime risk at the block level. Cheryl is currently serving on her second term as Data and Resources Chair to the Maryland State Geographic Information Committee (MSGIC) and in her spare time is an organizer for Maptime Bmore.

  

Tuesday July 21st  

11:00-12:00 PM What is Equity Planning? 

Tonya Sanders PhD, Morgan State University

• Tonya Nashay Sanders, MA, PhD, AICP is an Associate Professor in City and Regional Planning at Morgan State University. Her research is on faith-based community development; faith-based organizations disaster preparedness, relief, and recovery; and community development and health.  Currently she serves on the board of the Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake and leads the Health and Community Development committee for CDN of Maryland. She earned her doctorate in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a master’s degree in Community Psychology and Social Change from the Pennsylvania State University, and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Truman State University. She is also a certified practicing urban planner with the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). 

Stephanie Smith, Baltimore City Department of Planning

Regina Hammond, Rebuild Johnston Square President, BUILD Member
Twitter: Re-build Johnston Square @JohnstonSquare  

Regina Hammond served over 20 years as a Legal Assistant in one of the largest law firms in Downtown Baltimore.  She is a proud mother of two professional adults, and spouse of Keith Hammond, a former Truck Driver and a strong community leader in Rebuild Johnston Square Neighborhood Organization.  Ms. Hammond is a 30+ year homeowner in the Johnston Square Community in East Baltimore City, Maryland, is currently self-employed in financial services and has served her community over the past 7 years as the President and Founder of Rebuild Johnston Square Neighborhood Organization, with the support and leadership of BUILD (Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development).   

Dr. Doris Minor Terrell, Broadway East Resident

 

1:00-2:00 PM Polymath Python 

Aaron Brooks, Founder and CEO of MASTERMND
Twitter: @mastermndio

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mastermndio/ 

• Aaron Brooks is a DevOps Engineer and Technical Architect from Baltimore, Maryland. He is the mastermnd behind MASTERMND Academy, a bootcamp-style engineering training series hosted on Twitch! When he isn’t streaming you can find him talking tech and teaching at events and groups around Baltimore, such as The Baltimore Black Techies. You can reach him on Twitter or live on Twitch at @mastermndio!  

 

3:00-4:00 PM Racial Implications of Housing Insecurity 

Claudia Willson Randall, Associate Director, Community Development Network of Maryland

Allan Mallach, Center for Community Progress

• Alan Mallach has been engaged with the challenges of rebuilding America’s cities and their neighborhoods as a practitioner, scholar and advocate for over fifty years. A senior fellow with the Center for Community Progress in Washington DC, he teaches in the Graduate Center on Planning and the Environment at Pratt Institute in New York and has lectured on housing and urban issues across the United States, Europe, Israel and Japan. He has worked at the Brookings Institution and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, and served as director of housing & economic development for the city of Trenton, New Jersey. The author of many books, articles and research studies on housing, planning and urban development, his most recent book is The Divided City: Poverty and Prosperity in Urban America, which looks at urban and neighborhood revitalization in the Rust Belt, and the uneven effects of urban revival on lower income residents and communities of color. He is also a concert pianist and author of two well-received books on 19th century Italian opera. He holds a B.A. degree from Yale College, and lives in Roosevelt, New Jersey. 

Sally Scott, Graduate Program Director of Community, UMBC
Twitter: @UMBC_DPS
Blog: https://gritinaction.umbc.edu/  

• Sally J. Scott, Ph.D., is Graduate Program Director of Community Leadership at University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she leads an interdisciplinary program that draws on the teaching and research strengths of UMBC, and helps students build collaborative leadership skills as well as strong connections to local nonprofit organizations.  Sally has worked for over 30 years in community development, in West Africa, Iowa, and Maryland. As a foundation program officer and a nonprofit executive director, she has led collaborative, multi-sector initiatives to bolster neighborhood revitalization and affordable housing.  In the Baltimore area, Sally has worked with grassroots, multi-neighborhood, citywide and statewide organizations. She has graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University, and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in community development, civil society, and community leadership. 

Althea Saunders-Ranniar, Director of Financial Services and Education, Bon Secours Community Works 

• Althea Saunders-Ranniar serves as Director of Financial Services and Education for Bon Secours Community Works (BSCW) in Baltimore, Maryland.  Ms. Saunders-Ranniar is responsible for program development and management, community relations, community reinvestment, and minority and urban affairs.  She has an MBA in Management from the University of Baltimore, is a certified Tax Preparer with the state of Maryland, Certified Educator in Personal Finance with the Institute of Financial Literacy and certified Financial Coach and Counselor.  However, when Althea was first introduced to financial coaching, she was resistant to how this could help families. The training required you to utilize the tools with your families.  What Althea found out was participants were engaged and eager about how their behavior influenced their financial goal. And of the 10 participants who were sent from BSCW Althea became the face of financial coaching and today the financial program is centered on financial coaching. Ms. Saunders-Ranniar is passionate about her work and the success families receive from a financial coaching program that empowers and educates.  And, when she is not working to strengthen the BSCW program, she is enjoying financial games with her grandchildren as she coaches them for financial success. 

Timothy Thomas, UC Berkeley, Baltimore Eviction Map

 

5:00-6:30 PM Employment and Small Business 

Mac McComas, Senior Program Manager, Johns Hopkins’ 21st Century Cities Initiative
Twitter: @JHU_Cities, @MacMc21CC 

• Mac is the senior program manager of Johns Hopkins’ 21st Century Cities Initiative (21CC). His research focuses on access to capital for small businesses and minority entrepreneurs. He serves on the board of WYPR, NPR’s local affiliate station. He received his MA in Scottish History from the University of Edinburgh and his MLitt in Scottish Historical Studies from the University of St Andrews.
  

Kristina Williams, Executive Director Charles Village Community District

Twitter: @CVCBDMA, @kew_k2elite 

Facebook: @CharlesVillageCBD

• Kristina E. Williams is a Community Economic Development professional whose work focuses on strategic equity initiatives. Kristina has worked with communities throughout the City on efforts from commercial revitalization, equitable economic development, and community development. She has served the City in many capacities, from the neighborhood to the nation, representing the City at conferences, workshops, and fellowships, highlighting Baltimore as a great place to live, work, and play. As the Executive Director of the Charles Village Community Benefits District (CVCBD), Kristina uses similar platforms and best practice strategies to support the district and the City in achieving equitable outcomes in safety and sanitation, by addressing root causes of both. By engaging the community in strategic priorities and expanding programs that meet the greater need of the community, the CVCBD is focused on driving down crime, changing improper public health and sanitation behaviors, and creating jobs.  

Ajit Narayanan, Urban Institute

Twitter: @ajjit10 

• Ajjit Narayanan is a Data Science Analyst at the Urban Institute, where he works with researchers to improve access to data, analytic tools, and innovative research methods. He particularly enjoys building open source data and mapping tools that help advance equity and inclusion in cities. Ajjit uses and advises on tools such as machine learning, big data platforms, geospatial analysis, and data visualization methods to relevant public policy issues. He holds a BA in Urban Studies and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and has recently adopted a labrador mix that takes up way too much of his time. 

Jay Nwachu, President and Chief Innovation Officer Innovation Works, President Ignite Capital  

• Jay leads Innovation Works (IW), a nonprofit social enterprise in Baltimore City committed to decreasing the city’s racial wealth divide through the launch and growth of sustainable social enterprises focused on Baltimore’s economically distressed neighborhoods. Jay also serves as President of Ignite Capital, a social impact fund subsidiary of IW dedicated to closing the access to capital gap for the enterprises in the IW pipeline.  Jay’s career was primarily in talent management across the private, government and nonprofit sectors. Most recently Jay’s focus has been on supporting social entrepreneurs across Africa and in Baltimore City. As with Innovation Works, Jay believes that localism and small businesses are integral pieces to the resiliency of any economy.  

  Jay’s academic background is in Industrial and Organizational Psychology with an undergraduate degree from UMBC and a graduate degree from the University of Baltimore.

   

Wednesday July 22nd 

11:00-12:00 PM Streets for People 

Carol Kachadorian, Mobility Planner and Founder, dblTilde Collaborative
Twitter: @rugmansdaughter  

• Carol has three decades of experience in multimodal transportation planning, project management, policy development, and public engagement. Her work includes pedestrian master plans, multi-modal corridor planning, trails planning, transit access, safe routes to school program development and management, and complete streets policy development. She understands the importance of both big data and personal experience to determine feasible changes to transportation systems that make travel by all modes safe, accessible, and comfortable for all ages and abilities. Carol recently started dblTilde Collaborative, a consulting firm that focuses on active transportation planning, with a specialty in older adult mobility and wellness. She is a board member at the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals and a volunteer educator at Operation Lifesaver as well.

Elizabeth Gordon, Kittleson & Associates

• Elizabeth has experience as a planner on a variety of projects throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Her expertise includes bicycle and pedestrian plans on local and state levels, multimodal streetscape improvement projects, transit operations analysis, and public involvement initiatives. In her current work, Elizabeth focuses on incorporating the best multimodal analysis tools available within the evolving state of the practice. She has used GIS-overlay connectivity analyses, the Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) methodology, bus operations analysis, bicycle and pedestrian obstacle assessments, and traditional traffic engineering tools. She holds particular interests in effective community involvement in transportation decision-making, multimodal facility design, effective integration of pedestrian and bicycle facilities with transit, and transportation planning. 

Yolanda Takesian, Kittelson and Associates Community Planner

• Yolanda Takesian is a Baltimore City resident, a community planner with Kittelson and Associates, Inc. and an advocate for transit, bicycling and transit-oriented places. Her work brings people affected by transportation investments into the thinking and decision-making processes of agencies, elected leaders and place designers. She enables dialogue within communities to hear from one another, understand differing points of view, learn from communities with similar experiences, and find common ground around needs and opportunities where transportation can be part of the solution.  She leads and advises planners, engineers and interdisciplinary teams to creatively respond with data- and people-informed solutions that have made neighborhoods, downtowns and corridors more walkable, bikable, and transit-supportive.  Yolanda’s experience includes investigating and developing premium transit concepts, orchestrating multimodal systems plans, and leading project development in Maryland’s Department of Transportation’s Community Design Division. As key staff in Maryland’s early Smart Growth initiatives, Yolanda designed community planning processes, including Maryland State Highway Administration’s “Thinking Beyond the Pavement” approach to project development and works with communities around the US leveraging their transportation decisions to support thriving communities. 

Graham Young, Complete Streets Manager, Baltimore City Department of Transportation

Matthew Hendrickson, Lead Bike Planner and Slow Streets Project Manager, Baltimore City Department of Transportation

 

12:30-1:30PM Getting Census Data for Your Community 

Noemi Mendez, US Census Bureau Supervisory Program Analyst  

• Noemi Mendez is a Data Dissemination Specialist at the United States Census Bureau.  Currently, she is responsible for public relations, outreach and training the public on how to access and use census data.  She specializes in working with grant writers, GIS users, businesses and the educational institutions. In addition to holding these positions in the federal government, Noemi has worked at the Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice and as a GIS/Logistics consultant in the private sector.  She teaches GIS courses at Johns Hopkins University and Temple University.  Noemi is also a member of Gamma Theta Upsilon International Geographic Honor Society, Women in GIS and the Society of Women Geographers. She also serves as an advisor for the Temple University Professional Masters GIS program. 

 

2:30–4:00 PM Impact of Smart Surfaces for Mitigating Urban Heat 

Georges C. Benjamin, Executive Director, American Public Health Association  

• Georges C. Benjamin, MD, is a well-known health policy leader, practitioner and administrator. He currently serves as the executive director of the American Public Health Association, the nation’s oldest and largest organization of public health professionals. He is also a former secretary of health for the state of Maryland. Dr. Benjamin is a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He is board-certified in internal medicine, a Master of the American College of Physicians, a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, a fellow emeritus of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine. He serves on several nonprofit boards such as Research! America, the Truth Foundation and, the Reagan-Udall Foundation. He is also a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, a council that advises the President on how best to assure the security of the nation’s critical infrastructure. 

Beth Harber, Abell Foundation Senior Program Officer for Community Development & Environment  

• Beth Harber is a Senior Program Officer for Community Development and Environment, focusing on projects and programs that increase resident investment in neighborhoods, promote household energy efficiency and sustainability, increase food access and affordability, expand entrepreneurship and business incubation, and address environmental challenges disproportionately affecting low income communities of color. 

Elisabeth Gawthrop, Columbia University

Kimberly Knox, Baltimore Dept. Of Planning Greening Coordinator/Planner II

• Kim is the Greening Coordinator for the Baltimore Green Network which is an initiative of Baltimore Department of Planning.  Kim works with residents to implement their vision in recreating vacant lots into community assets in their neighborhood in the Baltimore Green Network’s focus areas and Baltimore’s impact investment areas.   She has an extensive background in community outreach and engagement. Kim has worked in water conservation, renewable energy and energy conservation in San Francisco, Colorado and Maryland. Kim is the author/primary editor of several books on water conserving landscaping and other environmentally-related topics.  With a Masters in Public Administration, Kim is also a certified arborist and a Master Gardener.  

Greg Kats, Founder, Smart Surfaces Coalition

• Greg has played substantial roles in developing the clean energy and green building industries, and is a long-time thought leader and impact investor in the transition to a low carbon economy. He is President of Capital E – which works with governments, cities, corporations and financial institutions to design, scale and implement clean energy and decarbonization. He founded the Smart Surface Coalition, accelerating city investment in low carbon resilience, with 40 partners such as the AIA, the National League of Cities and the American Planning Association. He serves as the Sustainability and Energy Advisor for Redbrick LLC, developing 7 million square feet of zero carbon mixed use construction.  Greg served as Managing Director of Good Energies, a several billion-dollar global clean energy PE/VC fund investing in a broad range of clean energy and low carbon firms. He served for 5 years as the Director of Financing for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the US Department of Energy. Greg played a large role in designing and developing LEED, the green building standard and received the first US Green Building Council Lifetime Achievement Award.  He was the Founding Chairman of IPMVP and built it into the global energy and water efficiency design and verification standard for $50 billion in building upgrades. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alliance to Save Energy for this and other work that expanded the energy efficiency industry. Greg Chairs the congressionally established advisory board guiding the greening and energy efficiency of 430,000 federal buildings and served on a National Academy of Sciences board on strengthening US global competitiveness.  He is co-developer of CarbonStar, the first international standard for disclosure of CO2 in concrete. He is a founder of both the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and the country’s first green bank. Greg is the author of several widely referenced studies on the cost effectiveness of greening infrastructure, including the book Greening Our Built World; Costs Benefits and Strategies.  He consults and testifies on impact investing, renewable energy, green cities, and financing issues, including recently before/with the US Congress, the World Bank, the UN, and the National Academy of Sciences. Greg earned an MBA from Stanford University and is a Certified Energy Manager. He has served on a dozen clean energy corporate boards. Solar PV powers his family home and electric car.  

Ryan McCuaig, Smart Surfaces Coalition

 

5:00 PM-6:00 PM Food Security 

Elizabeth Perriello Rice, France Merrick Foundation
Twitter: @FranceMerrick
Facebook: @France-Merrick Foundation 

Elizabeth Perriello Rice currently serves as a Program Officer with the France-Merrick Foundation Maryland which provides approximately $9 million in grants to non-profits in the Baltimore region annually.  Her portfolio includes health and human services and community and economic development with an occasional dabble in historic preservation and environmental grantmaking.  Among other priorities, the Foundation is interested in supporting increased access to local, healthy food for underserved communities in Baltimore.  Prior to France-Merrick, Elizabeth worked as an independent consultant for the Baltimore Community Foundation and the Prince Charitable Trusts in Washington, DC and Chicago.  

Suzanne Poandl 

Sha’Von Terrell, Deputy Director Black Church Food Security Network
Twitter/Instagram: @BlackChurchFSN
Facebook: The Black Church Food Security Network
Youtube: The Black Church Food Security Network

• A rising and inspiring voice in the Black Food and Land Sovereignty community, Sha’Von Terrell is a child of the deep south, freedom dreamer and a strategic food systems planner specializing in food and land sovereignty. She is the granddaughter of former farmers who have undergone economic exploitation, environmental racism and spiritual devastation through systems of oppression. Therefore, Sha’Von’s passion is rooted in Black self-determination, collective organizing and reclaiming our right to agriculture. As the Deputy Director with the Black Church Food Security Network, Sha’Von manages a local market that steers thousands of dollars and support toward Black farmers and small business owners. Additionally, she travels the country organizing and consulting with anchor institutions, such as colleges, universities, churches and grassroots organizations. Through this work, she advances local self-reliance in the food system.  She holds a Masters of City and Regional Planning from Morgan State University and a Bachelor’s of Science in Political Science from Tuskegee University. 

Caitlin Misiaszek, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future Program Officer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LivableFuture/
Twitter: @livablefuture 

• Caitlin Misiaszek is a program officer in the Food Communities and Public Health program at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and manages the food system mapping team. Caitlin is responsible for overseeing and managing the food system database and works with community partners in understanding how to use data and mapping to inform decision making. She works on a variety of projects related to food access, food environments, farmers markets, and nutrition assistance. 

 

Thursday July 23rd  

12:00-1:00 M Discussion on Trust, Open Source, and Baltimore 

Jacob Green, Founder of Mosslabs.io

Twitter: @jacoblyopen, @Moss4Cities 

• Jacob Green, the founder of Mosslabs.io, is a seasoned technologist and engineer, an open source artist, strategist & systems builder working to expand the impact of Open Source in society globally.  Hailing from Baltimore, passionate about open source in Baltimore

Danese Cooper, VP Special Initiatives NearForm 

Twitter: @DivaDanese 

• Danese Cooper is a life-long advocate of open source. She currently works at NearForm as VP Special Initiatives. Prior to joining NearForm, Ms. Cooper spent 4.5 years as Sr. Director and Head of Open Source Software at PayPal, Inc. She was the inaugural Chairperson of the Node.js Foundation. Ms. Cooper previously served as the CTO of Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., as Chief Open Source Evangelist for Sun and as Sr. Director of Open Source Strategies for Intel. She concentrates on creating healthy open source communities, is currently the President of the InnerSource Commons Foundation, and has served on the Boards of the Drupal Association, the Open Source Initiative, the Open Hardware Association and has advised Mozilla and the Apache Software Foundation. She has been known to knit through meetings.

Sayeed Choudhury, Associate Dean of Johns Hopkins Univeristy Sheridan Libraries

Twitter: eSayeed 

• Sayeed Choudhury is the Associate Dean for Research Data Management and Hodson Director of the Digital Research and Curation Center at the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University. Choudhury is also a member of the Executive Committee for the Institute of Data Intensive Engineering and Science (IDIES) based at Johns Hopkins.Choudhury was a President Obama appointee to the National Museum and Library Services Board. He was a member of the National Academies Committee on Forecasting Costs for Preserving, Archiving, and Promoting Access to Biomedical Data. He was a member of the National Academies Board on Research Data and Information and the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access. He has testified for the Research Subcommittee of the Congressional Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
  Choudhury has served as principal investigator for projects funded  through the National Science Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Library of Congress’ NDIIPP, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Microsoft Research, and a Maryland based venture capital group. 

Clare Dillon, Mosslab.io Ireland

Twitter: @claredillon, @Moss4Cities 

• Clare Dillon has spent over 20 years working with developers and developer communities. Until recently, she headed up the Microsoft Ireland Developer Evangelism and Experience Group. Alongside her work with InnerSource Commons, Clare currently works with MossLabs to support the establishment of University and Government Open Source Program Offices and OSPOs++ globally that can collaborate to implement public policy and trustworthy public services.  

Dionne Joyner Weems, Founder and Chief Energy Officer Audacity Group LLC
Facebook: Dionne Joyner-Weems
Instagram: @Dionne_JW ; @Audacity_Group
Twitter: @Dionne_JW 

• Dionne Joyner-Weems is the Founder and Chief Energy Officer of Audacity Group LLC., a brand marketing firm that builds creative strategies to support bold ideas.  For more than a decade, this West Baltimore native developed many of the city’s most successful brand initiatives as the Vice President of Marketing and Community Affairs at Visit Baltimore. Now, as the CEO of Audacity, Dionne uses her unique style of branding and storytelling to elevate individuals, companies and organizations with daring vision. Dionne’s genuine passion and commitment to changing Baltimore’s narrative is widely recognized. And, in 2018, her efforts fueled Baltimore’s largest social media movement, #MyBmore, which still remains a beacon of civic pride throughout the city.  Dionne Joyner-Weems is a wife, a mother of three, and a CEO with a colorful energy that is authentic & unparalleled.  

Torbin Green, Operations & Program Director, St. Francis Neighborhood Center 

•  Torbin Green was born in Highlandtown, Baltimore. He has always had a desire and passion to contribute to the City and residents. As a young man, he experienced homelessness, but fought to continue his education and work experience, to make a difference. His story and impact are amazing. He had a vision early on to bring communities together with City events. In 2003, he co-created an event planning company called Smalltimore Events that creates hyper-local events celebrating Baltimore.  He owns the trademark to the term “Smalltimore®,” which is now found in the urban dictionary describing Baltimore “as everyone knows everyone.” He has successfully led several hundred events, and partnered with 100’s more to promote and volunteer.  As a result of his efforts, he was named Top 40 Under 40 by City Paper in 2012. In 2013, He joined a small grassroots nonprofit called St. Francis Neighborhood Center, the oldest community enrichment center in West Baltimore. Drawn to first volunteer in 2012, when a position opened for a Program Manager, he was hired. Today, Torbin is the Program & Outreach Director. He daily and directly influences over 60 children per day living below the federal poverty line and their families. Because of his and the Center’s work, word has spread, there is now a three-year wait list for children hoping to be in the after school and summer youth development programs. The Center is now working towards an expansion to triple in size in order to serve more children, family, and community, and this can largely be attributed to the immense amount of commitment Torbin has for the Center and the City. The Center’s programs have won numerous awards with Torbin as Director, including named in the Top 10 best summer youth programs in the nation according to the National Summer Learning Association, and becoming a model program. Children who struggle with homelessness and trauma related to poverty in West Baltimore are excelling, have support, care, and hope. The work is tough, and he does not give up. He personally has received several Governor’s Service Awards. He returned to school to receive his Nonprofit Management Certification from Michigan State University in 2016 and Youth Mental Health First Aid certificate as well, from the National Council for Behavioral Health. 

  As Program & Outreach Director, Torbin is responsible for the management and logistic planning of all Community Center and outreach programs, all of which tie directly to our premier youth development program, Power Project.  Directing the Power Project includes supervising teaching, facilities, and program staff, volunteer coordinator, program, tutoring component, grant oversight and reporting. He partners with various organizations to bring programs and guest speakers to St. Francis Neighborhood Center, as well as organizing field trips, meals, safety and transportation, and helping plan engagement events and working with youth and families to design learning plans for each youth. Torbin has an extensive background in program management, community and relationship building in Baltimore. He was also a Program Manager and certified Teacher for Corporate Sylvan Learning Centers, where he assessed and customized students’ learning plans, as well as worked with the students’ parents and teachers for a comprehensive program to ensure student success. Through Sylvan, he is familiar with the Common Core and the State of Maryland Education Curriculum. He also managed nutrition and programs for the University of Maryland Medical Center where he trained and is certified in Safe Serve and Cultural Sensitivity. He has a degree from Harford Technical in Graphic Arts and Printing.   

  Torbin is well involved in his local Canton community, where he resides. In 2012, he was named as one of Baltimore’s Top Neighborhood Dads (Canton) and was honored by the Mayor at a special awards banquet. He joined the Grunwald Club in 2014 which raises funds for the Believe In Tomorrow’s Children Foundation, and he became the first African American Board Member in 2015. He joined the Board of Directors of the Canton Community Association in 2014. Through his leadership and with a team of committed volunteers, Light Night Canton, a Light City Baltimore fringe event, just had its second successful year! For ten years Mr. Green has volunteered his time to facilitate the Canton community annual event called the Lamp Post Lighting Ceremony. Torbin is often jokingly called the “Mayor of Canton,” but in all seriousness, this is due to his leadership and dedication to the City. You can find him shoveling O’Donnell Square Park after a snowstorm or cleaning the bike lane, when no one else steps up–he does. He also volunteers his time to monitor the Canton Neighbors and Canton Neighbors Security Camera Facebook groups.

   

1:30-2:30 PM Data for Digital Equity 

John B. Horrigan, Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute.
Twitter: @JohnBHorrigan 

• John B. Horrigan is Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute, with a focus on technology adoption and digital inclusion. Horrigan is also a senior advisor to the Urban Libraries Council. Additionally, he has served as an Associate Director for Research at the Pew Research Center, where he focused on libraries and their impact on communities, as well as technology adoption patterns and open government data. During the Obama Administration, Horrigan was part the leadership team at the Federal Communications Commission for the development of the National Broadband Plan (NBP). For the NBP, Horrigan was responsible for the plan’s recommendations on broadband adoption. Horrigan has a Ph.D. in public policy from the University of Texas at Austin and his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia.

Andrew Coy, Digital Harbor Foundation

Sarah Heaton, Baltimore City Public Schools

Lo Smith, Coordinator of Digital Equity and Emerging Tech at the Enoch Pratt Free Library 
Twitter: @prattlibrary 

•  Lo Smith (they/them) serves the City of Baltimore as the Digital Equity Coordinator at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. A recent graduate of the Simmons University School of Library Information Science, they have engaged with communities as a librarian with Baltimore County Public Library for 5 years before pivoting to digital inclusion work at the Pratt, initially as a Technology Exchange Fellow. They coordinate Pratt initiatives, such as the Wash and Learn Initiative (WALI) in partnership with Libraries Without Borders, and current rapid-response digital projects  in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as joining the great minds of the city on the Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition. On some Fridays, you can find them on the Pratt Library Facebook page hosting Tech Chats with Lo, a weekly library program about technology!  When they aren’t thinking about digital access, inclusion, and equity, they can be found practicing partner acrobatics with the Baltimore Bonestackers or listening to an audiobook in your favorite city park.   

 

3:00-4:00 PM Data Querys With M-Lab

Chris Ritzo, Measurement Lab Program Management & Community Lead

• Chris Ritzo is the Program Management & Community Lead at Measurement Lab, at Code for Science & Society. Supporting researchers, policy makers, advocacy groups, and individuals interested in M-Lab’s open Internet measurement data, Chris’ research examines technology’s impact on and use within communities, particularly within public institutions such as schools and libraries. His work is grounded in experiences within the maker movement, community organizations, grassroots media, cooperatives, and community access television. 

5:00-6:00 PM Using Resident Data to Address Neighborhood Concerns  

Eri Furusawa, HR&A Advisors Analyst
HR&A Advisors Blog: https://medium.com/hr-a-advisors 

• Eri leverages data analysis and narrative building to embed equity into policymaking. She has deep expertise in community engagement, having supported Baltimore, Portland, greater Houston, and other cities in the U.S. conduct surveys and stakeholder workshops, always with an eye toward ensuring inclusivity and building trust. 

Evan Serpick, OSI-Baltimore

Jose Serrano-McClain, HR&A Director
HR&A Advisors Blog: https://medium.com/hr-a-advisors 

• Jose Serrano-McClain is a Director at HR&A Advisors. As a leader in the firm’s Inclusive Cities and Urban Tech & Innovation practices, his work focuses on re-imagining civic participation and governance of the systems that shape people’s lives in cities. Jose works with government and non-profit organizations across the US on strategic projects, policies and initiatives that support communities so that they can be the most effective at using the levers available to them to influence decision-making within government.  Jose led an effort to overhaul how the city of Portland conducts public engagement around the yearly budgeting process.  He led a program that transformed the first 100 days of a new county administration in Harris County, TX into an opportunity to convene residents and civic organizations to participate in shaping the administration’s first year policy agenda.  Jose also brings expertise at the intersection of community economic development and urban technology.  Prior to joining HR&A, he was Program Director of NYCx for the NYC Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, where he led the creation of an urban innovation R&D program that convenes community-based organizations, technology companies, academic partners, and city agencies to collaborate on next generation municipal services and infrastructure. The program’s focus on building neighborhood technology capacity, equity, and economic opportunity has earned it several international awards and continues to expand within NYC. Jose’s other professional experiences include community organizing, co-founding a social enterprise, and analyzing economic policy at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 

Tre Murphy, Organizing Black

 

7:00-9:00PM OpenStreetMap Mapathon to Address Neighborhood Data Gaps with MaptimeBmore  

Maggie Cawley, Executive Director Open Street Map US
Twitter: @MaggieMaps, @OpenStreetMapUS 

• Maggie currently serves as the Executive Director for OpenStreetMap US. She joined OSM US in March 2019 after 15 years as a geospatial professional supporting projects across many sectors and industries. In her role at OpenStreetMap US, Maggie works to engage, support and grow the OpenStreetMap project and commufnity across the United States through programs, advocacy, and the annual State of the Map US conference. 
  

Elliott Plack, Senior Business Analyst, KCI Technology

• Elliott Plack is a senior business analyst focusing on configurable geospatial IT implementations in government at the consulting firm KCI Technologies. He holds a Master of Science in applied information technology with a focus on information systems management at Towson University. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in geography and environmental planning from Towson University. 

Jonathan Dandois, MaptimeBmore 

• Jonathan is co-organizer of the MaptimeBmore meetup group and Senior GIS Analyst at Johns Hopkins Facilities and Real Estate.  He’s into all things mapping including OSM, Leaflet, citizen science, and using drones for data collection 

 

Friday July 24th  

10:00-11:00 AM Using Data to Supper and Invest in Baltimore 

Yinka N. Bode-George, Public Policy & Program Manager, Maryland Philanthropy Network  

Twitter: @yinkabg 

• Yinka N. Bode-George is an environmental health advocate enthusiastic about creating health equity, environmental justice, and sustainable development through activism, policy, and practice. As Public Policy and Program Manager for Maryland Philanthropy Network (MPN), Yinka cultivates opportunities for members to address critical issues and improve community conditions. She coordinates MPN’s Health Funders Affinity Group, Green Funders Affinity Group, Rising Leaders Roundtable, Public Policy Board Committee, and Grantseeker workshops by managing member learning activities and opportunities for collaborative action and investment in community issues. She is also a Board Member for The No Boundaries Coalition 

John Brothers, T Rowe Price

Danielle Torain, J.D., Director, OSI-Baltimore, Open Society Foundations
Twitter: @DanielleTorain; @OSIBatimore 

• Danielle was named the director of Open Society Institute-Baltimore in January 2020. A proud Baltimore native, Torain brings a decade’s experience in the public, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors to the job. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Torain worked in the Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, leading a citywide initiative to strengthen systems of support for incarcerated youth, and worked on local jobs programs with the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development. She was senior director of strategy and development at the Center for Urban Families, and spent four years at the Annie E. Casey Foundations’ Baltimore Civic Site, leading its place-based strategies in workforce development and economic inclusion, community capacity building and resident leadership. For the past several years, she has worked as an organizational development consultant, helping to advise and build capacity for social justice nonprofit groups. In the aftermath of Baltimore’s 2015 uprising following the death of Freddie Gray, Torain helped launch several initiatives aimed at connecting emerging activists with the philanthropic resources needed to carry out their work. In 2016, while with Baltimore Civic Site, Torain helped plan OSI-Baltimore’s Solutions Summit and led a panel discussion about job and economic development. Torain’s work has been recognized through numerous honors and awards. In 2012, she was named one of the Maryland Daily Record’s “Leading Women,” an honor given to women under 40 for their “professional experience, community involvement and commitment to inspiring change.” She was also named a “Maritime Magic Rising Star of Baltimore” by the Baltimore Business Journal, and given a “Spirited Women Award” in recognition of “everyday women who are making extraordinary contributions to their community and those around them.” Other Affiliations: Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, Center for Urban Families, Baltimore Civic Site (part of Annie E. Casey Foundation) 

Jamye Wooten, CLLCTIVLY

 

1:00-2:15 PM Data Science Corps Ignite Session and Brainstorming 

Aryya Gangopadhyay, PhD, UMBC
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/homearyya 

• Aryya Gangopadhyay is a Professor in the Department of Information Systems at UMBC. He is also an Affiliate Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at UMBC. Dr. Gangopadhyay received his PhD in Computer Information Systems from Rutgers University in 1993. He has published over 125 peer-reviewed articles. His research has been supported by grants from NSF, NIST, DoED, IBM, and other places. His research areas are in deep learning, cybersecurity, and smart cities. Dr. Gangopadhyay has graduated 16 PhD students and has been a member of many additional committees. 

Brian Kelly, Data Science Corps 

• I am a student at the University of Baltimore pursing an Upper-Division Certificate in Computer Programming. This fall I will be graduating, and I am very excited! I have a passion for both film and data. There is substantial value in using data to tell stories and to make the best decisions possible. 

Michael Vandi, Data Science Corps 

• I am an Applied Information Technology student at the University of Baltimore in the programming track. I’m excited about how geospatial data can be used to make smarter decisions and improve urban commuting in Baltimore city. When I’m not in school, I’m either coding up side projects, doing some research, or teaching data structures on YouTube. 

Priya Kanneboyina, Data Science Corps

Ruth Robinson, Data Science Corps

Naomi Weiss, Data Science Corps