Our Affordable Housing & Community Development Contributors

Matt Siemer is Volunteer Coordinator at Bread for the City, and is the editor of this blog.

Emily Bell is a Marketing and Communications Assistant at Bread for the City. While most of the work she does is in marketing, she will also be discussing the broader national poverty issues on this blog. She sits about 7 feet from my desk, and researches stuff very quickly.

Zain Gowani is a Development and Communications Assistant at Bread for the City. Sitting about 10 feet away from me, on the opposite side of Emily, Zain knows a ton about affordable housing, talks to clients often to hear what their frustrations and experiences are, and writes with a relatively high amount of conviction.

Ed Lazere is the Executive Director of The DC Fiscal Policy Institute, which conducts research on tax and budget issues that affect low- and moderate-income DC residents. Before that, Ed was a Senior Policy Analyst at The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (many moons ago), and he also plays a leading role on the Fair Budget Coalition here in DC.

Jim Knight is the Executive Director of Jubilee Housing, a faith-based, community-based non profit organization located in Adams Morgan that offers affordable housing as well as supportive services to help residents live up to their fullest potential. His wish is for Jubilee Housing to serve as an example of what a community can become when each member seeks to find their own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. You can visit them at their website, or contact them through the Coalition of Non-Profit Housing and Economic Development at 202-745-0902.

Nina Janopaul is the Executive Director of the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH). APAH was recently named Developer of the Year by the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers. APAH owns 10 rental communities in Arlington offering quality affordable homes to Arlingtonians.

Elizabeth Borges is Bread for the City's Advocacy Assistant. On top of spearheading BFC's voter registration drive and working with a number of coalitions, Elizabeth also knows a bunch about affordable housing and Curtis Sittenfeld.

Jessica Wright is one of two community bloggers that will be helping Bread for the City out this summer. Intelligent and capable, Jessica has the ability to master any policy area in a week or less. She will be chatting with all sorts of people in Anacostia to see how affordable housing issues have been affecting them.

Kate Perkins is the second of our two community bloggers. Kate is a long-time blogger who lived in Anacostia and energetically contacted me about this collaboration earlier this year.

Sharon Gruber is Bread for the City's Nutrition Consultant. Between combing our food pantry for unhealthy food, and meeting with clients one-on-one to talk about good nutrition, Sharon found the time to write a popular series of "Nutrition Minute" postings on this blog during our Food & Nutrition focus. When we switched to Affordable Housing, I got grumbly emails from people afraid that Sharon was going to stop writing, and she's graciously agreed to keep doing nutrition minutes from time to time.

This list will be updated as submissions come in! If you know something about Affordable Housing & Community Development, and want to become a contributor, send me an email!