Recognizing & Reconciling: Gentrification and Other Unintended Consequences

Lynne McCormack joined LISC as national program director of creative placemaking in 2015. Since that time she has led the integration of arts and culture into community development by creating programs, developing learning networks, providing technical assistance, and leveraging financial resources, including over 24 million dollars in loan funds. All these activities have increased the capacity of LISC’s local offices to strengthen inclusive arts, culture and creative placemaking activity in neighborhoods across the United States. Through a cooperative agreement with LISC and the National Endowment for the Arts, Lynne led the first pilot program for technical assistance for Our Town grantees. This work has served to identify gaps and opportunities in the deployment of creative placemaking resources nationally, and includes the development of the NEA’s Local Leadership Institute on Creative Placemaking. Prior to joining LISC she was director of art, culture + tourism in the city of Providence. Serving five mayors, she completed a comprehensive cultural plan in 2009, and forged partnerships that resulted in, a summer youth workforce development program, zoning changes, numerous creative placemaking grants, destination arts & music festivals and increased funding for artists, designers and organizations through CDBG, HUD, transit and economic development funds. She worked closely with Americans for the Arts and The U.S. Conference of Mayor’s on arts advocacy. Her work has been recognized by arts, tourism and social justice organizations. A trained video artist, Ms. McCormack earned her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and continues to employ creative practice and design-based thinking in her work for national LISC.

Lauren Hood (MI) is a native Detroiter and AfroUrbanist working at the intersection of Black aspiration and city change. Applying a reparations lens to the work, Lauren employs the strategies of storytelling, visioning and relationship building to addressing a community’s past harms, present needs and future hopes & dreams. Credentialed and experienced as both a community developer and equity facilitator, she holds space for otherwise difficult conversations that allow practitioners and citizen stakeholders to understand and value each other’s contributions while working toward transformational outcomes. Lauren brings first-hand experience in gentrified communities with a sharp analysis of how both cultural and the built environments can be a force pushing out poor and longstanding communities from their homes.