Speakers

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.