Event Details

Resilient by Design 2-Year Anniversary Webinar Series: Integrating Regional-Scale Vulnerability Analysis with Community-Driven Solutions

United States

Integrating Regional-Scale Vulnerability Analysis with Community-Driven Solutions

Adapting to Rising Tides Bay Area and Community-based Strategies to Address Vulnerabilities

Hosted via Zoom Webinars. Click here to register.

Moderator: Kristina Hill, UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design

Panelists:

  • Marquita Price, East Oakland Collective
  • Khariyyah Shabazz, Higher Ground Neighborhood Development Corporation
  • Dana Brechwald, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC)

Speaker Biographies:

Kristina Hill, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning and Urban Design, UC Berkeley

Kristina Hill is an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Hill studies urban ecology and hydrology in relationship to physical design and social justice issues. Her primary area of work is in adapting urban districts and shorezones to the new challenges associated with climate change. In the past, she helped to develop new ideas for urban water system design that support salmon health in the Pacific Northwest. Her involvement as a citizen in urban system advocacy led her to serve as the head of a transit agency in Seattle, after helping to found that agency as a volunteer board member. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she became a member of the Dutch-American engineering and design team that developed New Orleans water management strategy. She continues to collaborate internationally to understand the potential for designs to help protect coastal communities as sea levels rise. Prof. Hill currently focuses her research on adaptation and coastal design in the San Francisco Bay Area, but engages in comparative studies in the US Mid-Atlantic, Europe, and Hawaii. Professor Hill lectures internationally on urban design and ecology. Before coming to Berkeley, she served as chair of the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Virginia. Her book, Ecology and Design: Frameworks for Learning, was published by Island Press in 2002, and her current book project proposes adapting urban waterfronts to climate change while incorporating productive ecosystems. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University, and was a member of the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Washington in Seattle, and the University of Virginia before coming to California. She was honored as a Fellow of the Urban Design Institute in New York, and has conducted research in Stockholm, Sweden, as a Fulbright Scholar.

Marquita (Keta) Price, East Oakland Collective

Marquita (Keta) Price, a deep East Oakland native and District 7 Stonehurst neighborhood resident, is the Director of Urban and Regional Planning for The East Oakland Collective (EOC). Keta has a background in computers and technology, business processes, chemistry, math, and community organizing. She has formerly interned for the City of Oakland’s Department of Planning and Building and University of California, Berkeley’s College of Chemistry biochemistry lab. Keta previously worked part-time as the Constituent Liaison of City of Oakland Councilmember Abel Guillen, focusing on the immediate needs of the San Antonio and East Lake communities. Inspired by the Black Panther Party and Marcus Garvey, Keta’s civic engagement is driven by her passion to develop an economic base for the Black residents of Oakland. Her early advocacy is rooted at Merritt College where she served as the Vice President of The Black Student Union, President of the Kem(istry) Club, President of the Associated Students of Merritt College, and served on the Student Trustees of the Peralta Community College School District. Keta’s goals were to restore the resilience of the student government planted by Chairman Bobby Seale and other former Black Panthers, which focused on leveraging the institution’s resources to address the social justice issues students face in their community prohibiting them to thrive in life and academics. Keta transitioned from student advocacy to neighborhood community organizing focused on racial and economic justice. ​Marquita Price received achievement awards for the completion of The Center for Educational Partnerships NIH-UCB. During this project Keta synthesized pro-fluorophores used for live cell RNA imaging. Keta received recognition from the California Legislature Assembly and State of California Senate and commendation from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for her advocacy work with the Tobaccoless Club at Merritt College. ​ Marquita Price has an Associate in Science degree in Mathematics and Natural Science from Merritt College.

Khariyyah Shabazz, Workforce Development Director and Assistant Programmatic Director, Higher Ground NDC

I have worked in youth development for the past 10 years with the organization Higher Ground. 6 of those years I spent facilitating after school programs at Madison Park Academy and New Highland Academy. I received my B.A. in communications from Cal state East Bay. Within those programs I have conducted successful STEM summer camps and created the peer leadership workforce development department. I now work employing middle and high school students to work within after school programs. I also manage our community projects and work closely with several Oakland community partners to ensure the resources for Oakland residents. I am also responsible for training all current site managers within our various schools and obtaining partnerships within our organization. My love for this work comes from my parents ensuring that I fulfill my civic duty throughout the community. My goal is to work with countless partners to ensure our students become competent and service minded adults.

Dana Brechwald, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC)

Dana Brechwald joined BCDC as an Adapting to Rising Tides Program Manager in November 2018. Dana holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of City Planning from Harvard, where she focused on community disaster recovery and climate adaptation planning. Prior joining BCDC, Dana was a Regional Resilience Planner for several years at the Association of Bay Area Governments and Metropolitan Transportation Commission, where she led projects focused on regional and local multi-hazard vulnerability assessment and strategy development, including earthquakes, sea level rise, and wildfire. She co-led the Stronger Housing, Safer Communities project with BCDC as well as the Regional Resilience Framework with EPA and FEMA. Prior to ABAG/MTC, she worked as a sustainability consultant in San Francisco, focusing on developing sustainability rating systems and greenhouse gas reductions projects around the world.