Joel Owens, Director / jowens@communitybuildingpartnership.org

Joel is a national community development practitioner and consultant with over 25 years of non-profit experience in a variety of local and national settings. Joel began his career in community work as a community organizer and later as Director of Housing for the Massillon Urban League in Massillon, Ohio. Joel has been associated with the NeighborWorks® Network since 1980, when he served as the first executive director of Neighborhood Conservation Services of Barberton (Ohio). He joined the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation in 1984 and worked extensively with national neighborhood strategist David Boelhke on neighborhood strategic planning, community self-reliance, and neighborhood impact processes. Later, Joel served as director for the Mutual Housing Association national demonstration project in Baltimore, Maryland before joining the program review department of Neighborhood Reinvestment in 1987. As a senior member of program review, Joel managed organizational evaluations of many of the larger Network organizations, lead review teams, and trained new review officers and consultants. After 12 years of service with Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation in Baltimore, Joel returned to his home state of Ohio to be the executive director of the Neighborhood Housing Services of Cleveland. In 1998, he opened his own full-time consulting practice specializing in community revitalization planning, organizational development and evaluation, interim management services, community lending, and non-profit program operations. Altogether, Joel has worked with over 125 organizations and communities during his career. Joel has a MA in City and Regional Planning, with a specialty in community economic development from Pratt Institute in New York City, a BS in Psychology from Malone College, as well as being a graduate of the Development Training Institute’s National Internship in Community Economic Development. He has been recognized as a community development practitioner and advisor in Who’s Who in the East. He has taught a variety of neighborhood revitalization courses at the Neighborhood Reinvestment Training Institute since the mid-eighties. Joel lives in the Portage Lakes region of Akron, Ohio with his wife Vicki and son Alex. He enjoys golf, kayaking, and amateur astronomy as well being an active performing musician in the region.

 
Aaron Brown, Healthy Neighborhoods Manager / abrown@communitybuildingpartnership.org

Aaron began his career in community development in 2009.  As a manager, Aaron oversees the neighborhood renewal efforts of CBP.  Along with his staff of Community Organizers, Aaron develops relationships with residents as they invest their time, effort and money to build healthy neighborhoods of choice.  This includes the facilitation of neighborhood block projects, art projects, resident gatherings, and community events.

Aaron oversees all marketing aspects of the organization, including but not limited to, updates, website content, and promotional materials.  With a strong background in marketing/public relations, Aaron communicates the healthy neighborhoods approach of asset building to residents, current and potential funders and invested community stakeholders.  This includes the development and implementation of strategic tools and programs for the city, as well as community members.

In addition to his neighborhood work, Aaron is a husband and father of three boys (Orion, Noah and Lennon).  He and his family currently reside within the city, close to Malone University.  Since he was 14 years old, Aaron has been an actor locally and in Los Angeles.  Aaron is also the Co-Lead Pastor at Legacy Hills Church.

 

Maureen Austin, Healthy Neighborhoods Coordinator / maustin@communitybuildingpartnership.org

Maureen Austin joined CBP in June 2012, serving a 1-year Americorps/VISTA position through the Ohio Community Development Corporation Association. A Canton native with strong local family ties, Maureen is happy to use her background in urban and community forestry and land use in assisting with CBP’s neighborhood revitalization efforts. As a Healthy Neighborhoods Coordinator and our resident ‘land use specialist’, Maureen works with CBP staff, neighborhood residents, and community partners on vacant lot reuse strategies.

Maureen holds a Ph.D. in human dimensions of natural resource management from The University of Michigan, a Master’s degree in forestry from Duke University, and a B.S. in biology from Kent State University. Prior to joining CBP, she was the Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator for The Ohio State University Extension in Stark County. She returned to Canton in 2008, from Anchorage, Alaska, where she taught in the environmental science and outdoor studies departments of Alaska Pacific University. An avid triathlete, she enjoys swimming, cycling, and running.

 

Brenda Turner, Healthy Neighborhoods Coordinator
bturner@communitybuildingpartnership.org