My Work
Over the last thirty years, I have built and led the following financially stable, mission-driven organizations.
Co-founded Opportunity Initiatives Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing talented low and moderate-income children access to top-flight education institutions around the world
Founded the Oakland office of SPUR, a 110-year-old urban planning and policy membership organization that brings people together from across the political spectrum to develop solutions to the big problems that Oakland faces
Helped grow Oakland-based ChangeLab Solutions from a small regional public health policy organization into the nation’s leading multidisciplinary team of lawyers, planners, and policy experts who work to advance equitable laws and policies to ensure healthy lives for all
I have helped communities all over the country devise and implement innovative policies so they can become places where all of their residents can lead healthier, prosperous, and more resilient lives.
Advised the Resources Legacy Fund on how to adopt a Health Equity Strategy for their work.
Wrote the North End Equitable Development Strategy (NEEDS) for the North End of Newport Rhode Island with Smart Growth America
Advocated that the City of San Francisco permanently close some neighborhood streets to through traffic and open them as neighborhood recreation spaces
Served on the Oakland Economic Recovery Council to advise the City of Oakland on how to rebuild its post Covid-19 economy in an equitable manner
Co-authored Firebreak: Wildfire Resilience Strategies for Real Estate for the Urban Land Institute.
Advised the City of Oakland on how to respond to racial justice protests in way that would make Oakland a better places to live, work and play for all Oaklanders
Advised the Director of the Oakland Department of Planning and Building on how to frame, be bold with, improve, and refine the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan
Advised the California Strategic Growth Council and their Health in All Policies Taskforce on how to integrate health equity into state policies and plans which lead to the 2017 overhaul of the California’s Office of Planning and Research’s General Plan Guidelines
Won the Chancellor’s Service-Learning Award for outstanding community work by a faculty member at UC Berkeley for the work I did with a succession of Community Development Studio classes in West Oakland
Most importantly though, I have motivated people to do great things to advance themselves and the missions of their institutions and to improve their communities.
Built a 25-member Board of Directors of Oakland’s most influential citizens at SPUR, formed alliances with like-minded organizations and recruited over 1,300 members so together we could create a new voice for constructive change in Oakland
Grew the volunteer corps at The Partnership for the Homeless in New York City to 11,000 so we could provide shelter and services to 1,500 homeless people at 150 church and synagogue-based homeless shelters
Taught staff members of the Public Health Departments of Contra Costa, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Merced, Stanislaus & San Joaquin counties the skills needed for them to join planning commissions and to run for public office
Wrote Opening School Grounds to the Community After Hours, the original toolkit that taught communities how to gain access to school site recreational facilities through joint-use agreements
Helped dozens of communities across the United States create shared use agreements to open access to school-based recreation facilities for community members
Taught residents of West Oakland how to work with the Oakland Redevelopment Agency to guide the redevelopment process to build and healthier and more equitable West Oakland
In all this work I have taken a community-building approach and helped people build institutions and develop their capacity to manage them so they can improve their communities and lead healthier, happier, and more prosperous lives.
Photo © Robert Ogilvie