Plenary Sessions
Ryan Gravel
6/14/23 @ 6pm EST (virtual only)
Ryan Gravel, AICP, is an urban designer, author, and speaker – an entrepreneur working on ideas about the future of cities. His master’s thesis in 1999 was the original vision for the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile transit greenway that with twenty years of progress, is changing both the physical form of his city and the decisions people make about living there. Now a $4 billion public-private investment in the early stages of implementation, the project’s health and economic benefits are already evident through record-breaking use of its first section of mainline trail and over $7 billion of private sector redevelopment since 2005.
Ryan has received numerous awards and press related to his work on the Atlanta Beltline and tells his story internationally, but an essential aspect of his work is yet to come. Alongside project work at Sixpitch and research on similar “catalyst infrastructure” projects around the world, he makes a compelling case about what this movement means and why it matters. In his book, “Where We Want to Live,” (St. Martin’s Press, 2016), Ryan investigates the cultural side of infrastructure, describing how its intimate relationship with our way of life can illuminate a brighter path forward for cities.
Ryan’s story has made ink in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Monocle, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, CityLab, CNN International, USA Today, and Esquire Magazine. He has been listed among the 100 Most Influential Georgians by Georgia Trend Magazine, 2014; the GOOD 100 by GOOD Magazine, 2013; “Visionary Bureaucrat” by Streetsblog, 2012; and “Top 25 Newsmakers” of 2011 by Engineering News-Record. He received Southface Institute’s highest Argon Award in 2022, Trees Atlanta’s Individual Tree Champion award in 2019, a “Trailblazer” award in 2018 from the South Fork Conservancy; an “Emerging Voices” citation from the AIA-Atlanta in 2011; Jenny D. Thurston Memorial Award from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission in 2007. He was named one of “45 Atlantans We Love” by Atlanta Magazine in 2006; one of “40-under-40″ from the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2006; and on of the “Best & Brightest” by Esquire Magazine in 2006. Other honors include a Special Award of Recognition from AIA-Atlanta in 2005; and Golden Shoe Award for pedestrian-friendly research from PEDS in 2003.
Ryan is the board chair of Generator and serves on the board of the Partnership for Southern Equity.
Ryan Gravel, AICP, is an urban designer, author, and speaker – an entrepreneur working on ideas about the future of cities. His master’s thesis in 1999 was the original vision for the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile transit greenway that with twenty years of progress, is changing both the physical form of his city and the decisions people make about living there. Now a $4 billion public-private investment in the early stages of implementation, the project’s health and economic benefits are already evident through record-breaking use of its first section of mainline trail and over $7 billion of private sector redevelopment since 2005.
Ryan has received numerous awards and press related to his work on the Atlanta Beltline and tells his story internationally, but an essential aspect of his work is yet to come. Alongside project work at Sixpitch and research on similar “catalyst infrastructure” projects around the world, he makes a compelling case about what this movement means and why it matters. In his book, “Where We Want to Live,” (St. Martin’s Press, 2016), Ryan investigates the cultural side of infrastructure, describing how its intimate relationship with our way of life can illuminate a brighter path forward for cities.
Ryan’s story has made ink in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Monocle, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, CityLab, CNN International, USA Today, and Esquire Magazine. He has been listed among the 100 Most Influential Georgians by Georgia Trend Magazine, 2014; the GOOD 100 by GOOD Magazine, 2013; “Visionary Bureaucrat” by Streetsblog, 2012; and “Top 25 Newsmakers” of 2011 by Engineering News-Record. He received Southface Institute’s highest Argon Award in 2022, Trees Atlanta’s Individual Tree Champion award in 2019, a “Trailblazer” award in 2018 from the South Fork Conservancy; an “Emerging Voices” citation from the AIA-Atlanta in 2011; Jenny D. Thurston Memorial Award from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission in 2007. He was named one of “45 Atlantans We Love” by Atlanta Magazine in 2006; one of “40-under-40″ from the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2006; and on of the “Best & Brightest” by Esquire Magazine in 2006. Other honors include a Special Award of Recognition from AIA-Atlanta in 2005; and Golden Shoe Award for pedestrian-friendly research from PEDS in 2003.
Ryan is the board chair of Generator and serves on the board of the Partnership for Southern Equity.
Aisha Nyandoro
6/21/23 @ 8am EST (Hybrid)
Aisha Nyandoro is the founding CEO of Springboard to Opportunities, a Jackson, MS nonprofit that uses a “radically resident-driven” approach to end generational poverty. In 2018, she created the Magnolia Mother’s Trust – now the country’s longest-running guaranteed income program.
In addition to leading Springboard’s community work and growing the Magnolia Mother’s Trust exponentially, Aisha is focused on shifting gendered and racialized narratives around poverty and deservedness, and working to show how the success of the Trust can be scaled nationally through policies like the expanded Child Tax Credit and a federal guaranteed income.
Her expertise on economic, racial and gender justice issues is regularly featured in outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Amanpour & Company, Essence Magazine, NBC Nightly News and CNN. She is a TEDx speaker and a fellow of the Highland Project, W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network and Ascend at the Aspen Institute. She has received many awards and recognitions including the 2022 McNulty Prize and Disrupter Change Champion. She holds a B.A. from Tennessee State University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. When not working to liberate financial capital she is a wife and mom to two very charming sons.
Aisha Nyandoro is the founding CEO of Springboard to Opportunities, a Jackson, MS nonprofit that uses a “radically resident-driven” approach to end generational poverty. In 2018, she created the Magnolia Mother’s Trust – now the country’s longest-running guaranteed income program.
In addition to leading Springboard’s community work and growing the Magnolia Mother’s Trust exponentially, Aisha is focused on shifting gendered and racialized narratives around poverty and deservedness, and working to show how the success of the Trust can be scaled nationally through policies like the expanded Child Tax Credit and a federal guaranteed income.
Her expertise on economic, racial and gender justice issues is regularly featured in outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Amanpour & Company, Essence Magazine, NBC Nightly News and CNN. She is a TEDx speaker and a fellow of the Highland Project, W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network and Ascend at the Aspen Institute. She has received many awards and recognitions including the 2022 McNulty Prize and Disrupter Change Champion. She holds a B.A. from Tennessee State University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. When not working to liberate financial capital she is a wife and mom to two very charming sons.