LIZ BLUME, AICP
Executive Director

Liz Blume has built her career blending community organizing principles with neighborhood planning processes. She has more than 15 years of experience leading comprehensive, municipal planning processes that focus on building healthy neighborhoods through citizen participation. Until December 2002, Liz was Director of the Department of Planning for the City of Cincinnati, where she served for three years. Prior to that, Liz was Director of the Department of Planning & Community Development for the City of Dayton, Ohio.

At the Community Building Institute, Liz's work has included coordinating work with KnowledgeWorks, Greater Cincinnati Foundation and others on the engagement for Community Learning Centers, a major initiative with Cincinnati Public Schools. She has led an important regional research project that establishes a new framework for the conversation around regionalism in the Cincinnati area. She has been deeply involved with the place matters project; a major effort, with a funding collaborative, to implement a comprehensive community investment strategy in three Cincinnati neighborhoods. Liz is committed to making sure the work of the Institute is relevant and connected to people who live in the communities she is working in.

In Cincinnati, Liz led a department of 25 professionals and oversaw a budget of $2 million. Her department was engaged in a wide range of planning issues, including land use, transportation, downtown, education, housing and economic development. It gained a reputation for being committed to neighborhood and community planning efforts. One of her key accomplishments was the development of a comprehensive plan for Over-the-Rhine, a neighborhood that borders the city's downtown. The inclusive planning process has been praised for building consensus among competing community stakeholders.

Liz is a former consultant with Woolpert Consultants in Dayton. She has a Master of Community Planning from the School of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning at the University of Cincinnati and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Urban Planning from the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University. She is a frequent guest lecturer on topics related to planning and politics, smart growth, professional practice and urban design, and has written numerous articles on those topics. Liz lives in Cincinnati's Clifton neighborhood with her two children.

DR. BYRON P. WHITE
Associate Vice President of the Center For Community Learning &
Senior Consultant for the Community Building Institute

As a veteran journalist and an administrator in corporate, non-profit and academic arenas, Byron White has spent his career facilitating mutually beneficial engagement and understanding between institutions and communities. He is Associate Vice President and Director of the James C. Eigel Center for Community Engaged Learning at Xavier University. The Center is a network of programs and systems - which includes the Community Building Institute - that fosters opportunities for extending student learning from the classroom to the community. In this role, White supports the engagement activities of faculty, students, administrators and staff. He previously was director of the Community Building Institute.

Until June 2002, Byron was senior manager of community relations for the Chicago Tribune, where he oversaw community engagement strategies and diversity marketing efforts. Byron had previously served as editor of the Tribune's Urban Affairs Team and a writer on the newspaper's editorial board. He also was the editorial page editor of the Cincinnati Post.
Between newspaper jobs in Cincinnati and Chicago, Byron served as executive director of the Conference of Walnut Hills Churches, a coalition of 18 congregations in Walnut Hills that worked together on housing and education initiatives. He also was a consultant to community organizations on Chicago's West Side and in other cities, working in conjunction with the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University, on whose faculty he serves.

Byron has a Master of Arts degree in Social Science from the University of Chicago, with concentration in urban policy, and a Byron has a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University. He is scheduled to complete his doctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania in May 2008.

Byron lives in Cincinnati's North Avondale neighborhood with his wife, Vanessa, and their five children.

TRINA L. JACKSON
Program Director

Trina Jackson has spent her career leading processes that drive citizen empowerment and civic participation, particularly by those most marginalized by society. She has led projects in homeownership and residential planning with residents from rural Northern Kentucky to inner-city Cincinnati - involving everyone from mentally retarded citizens to public housing tenants.

Since joining the Institute in 1999, Trina has coordinated numerous trainings and forums and maintained a strong network of community-based organizations across Cincinnati's Tri-State region, all fostering citizen-led, asset-based development practices. As a senior member of the CBI team, Trina oversees all financial operations, managing the organizational budget, as well as short and long-term projects budgets.

Prior to joining the Institute, Trina administered the Strengthening Ohio's Leadership Grant as a Community Outreach Organizer for the Ohio State University Extension. As a Planner and Housing Specialist for Kriss Lowry & Associates, Trina worked in urban and suburban communities managing federally funded housing and community development projects in Northern Kentucky. Trina also was a homeownership coordinator for Living Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled (LADD) in Cincinnati, where she helped mentally disabled citizens transition into homeownership.

Trina has a Master of Community Planning from the School of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning at the University of Cincinnati and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from UC. She is a Certified Project Manager and holds a green-belt in the Six Sigma Process. She served as a commissioner on the Colerain Township Zoning Commission in suburban Cincinnati for five years, and is currently a member of the Land Use Advisory Board.

PICKET SLATER HARRINGTON
Community Building Associate

Pickett Slater Harrington has spent his career facilitating and supporting the development of healthy individuals and strong communities. His experience covers a wide range of areas including community organizing, youth leadership development, program management and research.

During his tenure with the Community Building Institute, Pickett works closely with neighborhood organizations and groups to create and implement community revitalization efforts focused on business district development, safety and quality of life issues and housing development. Pickett also works with grassroots community leaders to implement community organizing campaigns and access community resources that can be leveraged to create change. In addition, Pickett conducts several trainings and workshops designed to help organizations and communities implement asset based community development efforts.

Prior to joining the Community Building Institute, Pickett served as program manager and director of education and training for Public Allies Cincinnati, a leadership development program for young adults. A native of South Carolina, he has worked with several nationally recognized nonprofits including the Urban League, where he coordinated a multi-county summer youth employment program, and the Children's Defense Fund, where he managed a countywide youth summer enrichment program modeled after the Freedom Schools of the Civil Rights Movement. Pickett also has served with the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs and the University of South Carolina's Center for Child and Family Studies.

Pickett has a Master of Social Work degree from the University of South Carolina with a concentration in communities and organizations, a Bachelor of Science degree from Francis Marion University in South Carolina and a Business Masters Certificate from Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH.

Pickett lives in Cincinnati with his wife, Khalilah.

BETH NAGY
Place Matters Project Manager

The place matters initiative is a pilot project of social co-investors, as a collaborative, to engage in place-based investing over three years to improve social and economic conditions in three communities in Greater Cincinnati: the Cincinnati neighborhoods of Avondale and Price Hill, and the City of Covington, Ky. The collaborative contracted with CBI to work with stakeholders in the three communities to create and execute detailed community development plans that outline tightly integrated, comprehensive, neighborhood-focused activities.

Beth oversees the on-the-ground coordination of place matters progress by working with community-based project coordinators. Community progress is demonstrated through the execution of processes and strategies to achieve identified community goals. In order to meet the overall goals of place matters, she provides daily coordination of community-based projects with the lead agencies and community partners. The product of these relationships is the measurable progress each community is achieving. Additional responsibilities of the project manager include recognizing opportunities where technical assistance is needed, mediating and resolving conflicts, reporting progress to place matters constituents, and developing and maintaining the collaborative relationships necessary to ensure successful outcomes.

Beth was Planning Specialist for the Cincinnati Public Schools before joining CBI. In that role, she was responsible much of the planning and data analysis for CPS' long-range planning functions, including major decisions regarding student enrollment and facilities construction related to the Facilities Master Plan. She also served the district as the liaison to regional governmental bodies and local institutions, as well as a resource to community-based organizations and community leaders seeking CPS information, demographics and planning assistance.

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Beth attended the University of Cincinnati and received her Bachelor of Urban Planning (BUP) and Master of Community Planning (MCP) from the College of DAAP. Beth is finishing her coursework towards a doctoral degree from the College of Education at UC in Urban Educational Leadership (UEL). Beth holds certifications in GIS and Evaluation and Assessment. She also teaches at UC and Xavier. Beth lives in Clifton Hts., part of the Cincinnati CUF community.

CHRIS SCHADLER
Community Building Consultant

Chris Schadler has spent the last 6 years as a community building consultant with the Community Building Institute (CBI). His professional experience covers a wide range of areas including neighborhood planning, planning design, community organizing, asset-mapping, geographic information systems, and program management for neighborhood’s in Greater Cincinnati and beyond.

At CBI, his work has included project facilitation and technical support on numerous neighborhood plans; program management of King Studios whose goal is to erect a memorial for King Records in Evanston; the Strive initiative aimed at educational reform; and the place matters project, a intense effort to implement a comprehensive community investment strategy in three Cincinnati neighborhoods.

Formerly, Chris was a consultant with the Short Vine Development Company and served as a volunteer consultant for the Cincinnati neighborhood of Northside as they developed their land use plan between 2003-2006. Chris has lived in Northside since 2000 and is the co-founder and promoter of the Northside Rock ‘N Roll Carnival.

Chris has a Master of Community Planning from the School of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning at the University of Cincinnati and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Northern Kentucky University. He also served as the promotions manager at the Historic Southgate House between 1995-2008 and still spends some of his time as a musician and an independent music promoter for venues such as Midpoint Music Festival, Fountain Square and the Northside Tavern.