Daniel Carlson
Senior Lecturer, Daniel Evans School of Public Affairs
Carlson is a senior lecturer and director of the public service clinics at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. His research, consulting, and teaching interests are in community and economic development, transportation and land use, and strategic planning. Carlson has written books and reports on adaptive use including ReUsing America's Schools, on economic dislocation issues including What the IT Revolution Means for Regional Economic Development (with Paul Sommers), and on community development including Seattle's Neighborhood Revitalization Strategies. Dan has worked as a consultant to help nonprofit organizations develop business and strategic plans and as a board member of affordable housing and community development corporations including Common Ground, Vashon HouseHold and the White Center Community Development Association.
Chuck Depew
Director, National Development Council
Depew is a director for the National Development Council (NDC), a national nonprofit which provides economic and community development assistance to local governments. NDC has a New Markets Investment Fund that has closed on over $250 million in investment capital. He assisted financing for Artspace Utah's City Center redevelopment and Salt Lake City's Sorenson Unity Center. Chuck provides technical assistance in project finance and development negotiation to communities throughout the Northwest. In addition, he teaches commercial and housing real estate finance nationwide in NDC's leading training program. Prior to his tenure at NDC, Chuck was deputy director of the Office of Economic Development for the City of Seattle. He has over 16 years of experience in public finance, housing, economic and community development.
Jim Diers
Community Builder
Jim Diers has a passion for getting people more involved in their community and in the decisions that affect their lives. Since graduating from Grinnell College and moving to Seattle in 1976, he has put that passion to work for an Alinsky-style community organization, a community development corporation, a community foundation, and for Group Health Cooperative. Jim was appointed the first director of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods in 1988 where he served under three mayors over the next 14 years. Currently, he works for the University of Washington where he teaches courses in community organizing and development and connects UW resources with community initiatives. The author of Neighbor Power, Jim also serves on the faculty of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute and provides consulting services related to community building.
Rachel Garshick Kleit
Associate Professor, Daniel Evans School of Public Affairs
Garshick Kleit joined the Evans School faculty in 1999. Her research interests include public and assisted housing self-sufficiency programs; the impacts of housing programs that mix income groups; and connections between housing location, neighborhood composition, social networks, and access to opportunity. She is the recipient of the 1998 Young Scholar Award from the Urban Affairs Association and Sage Publications. She is also a recipient of a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Urban Scholar Postdoctoral Fellowship to support research on the New Holly HOPE VI site in Seattle. She holds a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a MA in urban and environmental policy from Tufts University. She also holds a BA in history from Brandeis University.
Trang Tu
Founder and Principal, Trang D. Tu Consulting
Tu is an independent consultant whose work is at the intersection among community planning and development, public policy and underserved communities. She previously served as Assistant for Housing and Community Development to former Mayor Paul Schell, and was a Senior Associate with Cedar River Group, a Seattle public affairs consulting firm. Trang also worked at Inter*Im Community Development Association facilitating the neighborhood’s comprehensive plan, and in the City of Seattle’s Planning Office as a light rail station area planner for the Rainier Valley. Over the past 20 years, Trang has also been involved as a volunteer in many community-based organizations serving Asian Pacific Islander communities, and women and girls.
George Rolfe
Associate Professor, Urban Design & Planning, and Construction Management
Rolfe offers instruction in real estate, city planning, and management at the University of Washington. His research interests include market analysis techniques with a particular emphasis on housing. He joined the UW faculty in 1985 bringing a broad range of professional experience from his previous roles as president of Urban Properties Company--a real estate development firm--and executive director of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority. Formerly a partner with David A. Crane and Associates of Philadelphia, George was involved with diverse architectural projects. He also taught in the University of Pennsylvania program in Civic Design. George received his Bachelor of Architecture degree at Iowa State University and his Master of Architecture and City Planning degrees at the University of Pennsylvania.
Susan Taoka
Executive Vice President for Urban Programs, Shorebank Enterprise Cascadia
Taoka is the executive vice president for Urban Programs for Shorebank Enterprise Cascadia. She previously served as executive director of the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDPDA), the major property management and community development organization in the Chinatown International District. Her first position in Seattle was as the deputy chief of staff to Mayor Norm Rice for housing, economic and community development, neighborhoods, parks, and libraries. She is currently the co-president of the National Coalition of Asian Pacific American Community Development, and a board member of Impact Capital, and a member of the National Community Securities Initiative Advisory Board. Sue is also a founding member of the Distressed Communities Coalition and the National Coalition of Asian Pacific American Community Development and a member of the Washington Bar Association, and Minority Executive Directors Coalition.
