“Authentic partnerships are at the heart of sustainable community development.”
Tom Wyatt is an urban planner, community organizer and researcher focused on neighborhood revitalization in Flint, Mich. As director of neighborhood and community services at Kettering University, he has an extraordinary gift for connecting people—helping disparate groups overcome years of rancor and mistrust to work toward common goals.
Wyatt has worked as the lead researcher for Flint’s Department of Justice Community-based Crime Reduction grant (formerly known as the Byrne grant). He taps into his gentle and enthusiastic manner, along with his economic development expertise, to collaborate with more than 80 stakeholder organizations and four neighborhoods on strategies to improve the physical, social, and economic conditions of Flint’s University Avenue Corridor.
In addition to his position at Kettering, he is the principal at a firm he founded this year called Connected by Design, which offers consulting services and educational support related to Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), community engagement, and placemaking. Earlier in his career, he was neighborhood outreach coordinator for Habitat for Humanity and led social services and community development for the Salvation Army, working in North Carolina and Michigan. He has a B.S. in urban planning from Arizona State University.
Organization:
Kettering University
Area of Focus:
Community organizing/collaboration
Fellowship Project:
Use research, analysis and podcast interviews to develop a resource guide about building cross-sector partnerships; focus is on collaborations that advance economic development in cities, corridors, and neighborhoods.
Final Presentation:
Download Presentation Powerpoint [+]
