SPECIAL EVENT at CNU25: Suburbanization of Poverty

Dow Constantine, King County
Dow Constantine was re-elected in 2013 by the largest margin of victory ever recorded for the office of King County Executive. His second term is focused on meeting two of the greatest generational challenges of our time: building equity and opportunity, and confronting climate change. Guiding every initiative is the goal of becoming the most forward-looking and best-run government in the nation.

Chenoa Egawa
Chenoa Egawa is Coast Salish of the Lummi and S’Kallam Nations of Washington State. She is a ceremonial leader, singer, speaker, environmental activist and artist dedicated to bringing healing to our Mother Earth, and to people of all cultures, backgrounds and origins through recognition of our shared experiences as human beings. 

One of her principal teachings today is the importance of preserving and sharing the wisdom human beings of all cultures, languages and ways of life still hold that benefit the health, well being and protection of all life on our Mother Earth.  In that regard, she serves as a voice to bring Native wisdom and perspectives to the world at a time when these teachings are particularly poignant reminders of our shared responsibility to live with respect for ourselves, one another, and for our Earth.

Rebecca Saldaña, Washington State Senator
Rebecca Saldaña is serving her first term in the state Senate, having been appointed to the seat in Dec. 2016.

Rebecca grew up in the Delridge neighborhood of Seattle and has lived and worked primarily in Seattle and Oregon. She has expertise in a variety of areas including worker and immigrant advocacy, transit equity, women’s rights, social and racial justice, civic engagement, affordable housing and sustainable community development.

Elizabeth Kneebone, Brookings Institute
Elizabeth Kneebone is a fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and co-author of Confronting Suburban Poverty in America (Brookings Press, 2013). Her work primarily focuses on urban and suburban poverty, metropolitan demographics, and tax policies that support low-income workers and communities. In Confronting Suburban Poverty In America she and co-author Alan Berube address the changing geography of metropolitan poverty and offer pragmatic solutions for reforming and modernizing the nation’s policy and practice framework for alleviating poverty and increasing access to opportunity.

Scott Bernstein, Center for Neighborhood Technology
As Founder and Chief Strategy + Innovation Officer, Scott leads CNT’s work to understand and better disclose the economic value of resource use in urban communities, and helps craft strategies to capture the value of this efficiency productively and locally.

He studied at Northwestern University, served on the research staff of Northwestern’s Center for Urban Affairs, taught at UCLA and was a founding Board member at the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Center.

Charles Ellison, Politico
Charles D. Ellison is Washington Correspondent for The Philadelphia Tribune, author of the critically-acclaimed urban political thriller TANTRUM and a contributor to The Atlanta Post. Formerly host of "The New School" on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio’s POTUS Channel, Charles also serves as weekly Washington correspondent for The Cliff Kelly Show on WVON-AM (Chicago) and WDAS-FM (Philadelphia). His writing is regularly featured in The Huffington Post and POLITICO's Arena.

Kim Powe, Puget Sound Sage
Kim is the Climate Justice Director and Acting Deputy Director at Puget Sound Sage. Kim has a true love of people and is a passionate champion for justice. She knows that success is not a zero sum game and that true sustainability is not achieved when it is at the expense of others. She has a passion for working where sustainability and economic development intersect, which is often where people of color and low-wage communities converge.

Kim brings 18 years of experience in public service and grassroots developments spanning youth and adult economic development, racial equity, sustainability and climate justice, food justice, health equity, affordable housing, restorative justice and international development.

De’Sean Quinn, Councilmember, City of Tukwila
De’Sean Quinn grew up in Seattle in the vibrant and diverse neighborhood of Beacon Hill and attended University of Washington, graduating with a degree in Political Science.

De’Sean is currently a Water Quality Planner and Project Manager with the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks where he works on community relations, directs public involvement consultants, and represents the agency on various intergovernmental planning groups. Previously, De'Sean worked in the King County Executive's Office, serving in various positions including Community Relations, Council Relations, and Regional and Tribal Relations, where he was responsible for managing relationships with the 39 cities and 2 tribes in King County.

Gene Duvernoy, Forterra
Gene has spent more than 30 years working on land conservation and building community, founding Forterra (then called Cascade Land Conservancy) in 1989 in his attic. Since then he’s led the organization to national prominence by creating bold, innovative and successful programs that improve the quality of life for all residents.