Chandra Christmas-Rouse is the Senior Manager of Equitable and Sustainable Communities where she leads initiatives that support local partners in creating the coordinated culture, policy and process practice change needed to institutionalize equity. A background in community development and environmental justice informs her design approach of working with community stakeholders in a participatory process to support capacity building, achieve place-based solutions, and reimagine systems. Chandra also supports MPC’s housing, land use & planning and equitable transit-oriented development (eTOD) programs by advancing research, policy advocacy, and outreach efforts.
Prior to joining MPC, Chandra developed program, policy, and capital initiatives with local partners that focus on environmental resilience, equitable transit-oriented development (eTOD), and healing-centered engagement at Enterprise Community Partners. Her past experiences include integrating policy and strategy consulting with technical knowledge to advance economic mobility and sustainability for a number of organizations and firm including UN-Habitat and Jacobs Engineering Group.
Additionally, as an interdisciplinary creative and educator, Chandra creates participatory projects that engage local Black geographies, histories and spatial imaginaries. She has been named a 2020 Threewalls RaDLab+Outside the Walls Artist Fellow. She serves as the co-chair of Elevated Chicago and on the board of Equiticity. Chandra holds a BA in Environmental Sciences & Policy with distinction from Duke University and a Master of Urban Planning from Harvard Graduate School of Design. She currently lives in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the City’s South Side.
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Areas of expertise
- Housing policy
- Development finance
- Equitable transit-oriented development
- Climate planning
Education
Masters of Urban Planning, Harvard University
B.A. in Environmental Sciences and Policy, Duke University