A Community-Centered Approach to Advancing Park Policy - A 10-Minute Walk Park Equity Roundtable

Alyssa Kelley works as a project manager for Valley In Motion, a nonprofit organization that fosters community and quality of life in the Lackawanna Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania.  Alyssa is passionate about improving daily life for all through changes to the built environment – changes that inspire creativity and pride, promote wellness and balance, provide stability and safety, and allow for recreation and growth. She has worked in the development of affordable housing and creative spaces, placemaking, education, and economic development, and at the intersection of them all. She has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs and also has both a M.S. in Employment Relations and a B.S. in Spanish from Penn State University.

Sam Savin is the Technical Assistance and Pilots Program Manager for Trust for Public Land’s 10-Minute Walk Program. He works with city practitioners and community organizations across the country to implement local policy that narrows the park equity divide. Previously, he worked as a strategy and communications consultant in the private sector, and he started his career working for the cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia. Sam lives in Philadelphia.
 

Bz Zhang, NOMA, AIA, is a Project Manager for the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT). They work with communities toward environmental justice through coordination of community engagement, design, and construction of public green spaces.They support the Community Taylor Yard  Equity Strategy (TYES) as part of the Los Angeles Regional Open Space + Affordable Housing (LA ROSAH) Collaborative.

Joyce Pan Huang was appointed by Mayor Justin M. Bibb in 2022 as the Planning Director for the City of Cleveland’s City Planning Commission. Huang facilitates the development of the City’s long-range comprehensive plan, community-based neighborhood planning efforts, land use and zoning policies, public realm improvements, development review and other regulatory practices. She previously served as the Vice President of Community Development at MidTown Cleveland, Inc., an economic and community development organization for the City’s MidTown and AsiaTown neighborhoods. A transplant from the Rochester, NY area, Joyce has lived in the Cleveland area for 16 years including the Shaker Square, Ohio City and AsiaTown neighborhoods. As a 2nd generation Asian American and a child of immigrants, she fully embraces this identity, which has also shaped how she views city planning. Huang loves playground-hunting with her young child and husband, and she appreciates public art and well-designed, active public plazas and parks.

James DeRosa was sworn in as the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Capital Projects by Mayor Justin M. Bibb in 2022 to manage the city’s capital improvement plan for roads, bridges, parks, public facilities, and real estate transactions for the City of Cleveland. Previously he served as the Commissioner of the Division of Real Estate for the Mayor’s Office of Capital Projects since 2011. Previously he was employed by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority as its system-wide Property Manager and Deputy Project Manager of Real Estate for the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project. Other employment includes City of Cleveland, Department of Economic Development, Empowerment Zone Office as Acting Director and Attorney as well as Staff Attorney at Jones Day. Mr. DeRosa has an A.B. in International Studies from Kenyon College, J.D. from Case Western Reserve University, and a Master of Urban Planning Design and Development from Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. Mr. DeRosa was selected by the German Marshall Fund of the United States as a Marshall Memorial Fellow in 2009. Mr. DeRosa currently serves as a board member of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, the District One Public Works Integrating Committee and the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry Housing and Shelter Board, as well as the chairman of the City of Cleveland Board of Sidewalk Appeals.