Powered by her love for place and people, Elizabeth has supported positive social and ecological change in Boston, Austin, Buffalo, and Denver – from the scale of the home to the bioregion. Elizabeth loves to cultivate capability for regenerative systems change through many pathways, including:
- collective impact facilitation (e.g., supporting the Austin Housing Repair Coalition’s efforts to integrate green and healthy home repair services);
- regenerative civic leadership (e.g., co-founding the Festival Beach Food Forest, the first edible forest garden on public land in Texas);
- innovative pedagogy for regenerative change agents (e.g., leading the nationally recognized Champions for Change program as a professor of urban planning in the Buffalo-Niagara Region, 2016-2018); and
- collaborative action research (e.g., co-creating the Valverde Movement Project in West Denver with support of the U.S. National Science Foundation).
Today, Elizabeth dwells in Schenectady, New York – on the banks of the Mohawk River, in a home built in 1760, under the flag of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. As a University of Denver Grand Challenges Community Fellow, she continues collaborative work in Colorado through the Valverde Movement Project and the Regional Equity Assessment of the Metro Denver Nature Alliance. As an engaged neighbor in Schenectady, Elizabeth is thrilled to be working with her husband, Eric, and their neighbors to open a community-owned grocery store in the heart of downtown.
Elizabeth delights in wandering, wondering, and wayfinding – especially through walks in the great outdoors and convivial conversation with kindred spirits. Beginning in 2020, she discovered a love for long distance backpacking with her husband, including a 500 mile trek over the Colorado Trail in 2021, and most recently a 300 mile walk in the woods on the Benton MacKaye Trail. She welcomes fellow travelers to wander and wonder with her at bit.ly/YellowBrickWays.
A former Byron fellow (2013) and returning fellow mentor (2017), Elizabeth is delighted to join the 2023 mentor team in her home state, within the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and their Great Law of Peace.