Executive Director

richard@psgrichmond.org

Coordinator for Policy and Administration

jordyn@psgrichmond.org

PRESIDENT

Stephen Wade currently works for the Virginia Department of Social Services on making substance use disorder (SUD) prevention, treatment, and recovery more equitable and accessible, with a particular focus on child welfare systems, housing, and the criminal legal system. Stephen is passionate about providing housing for all that is safe, healthy and affordable by using a health equity lens that empowers and centers communities that have traditionally had the least access to resources and power. He earned a Masters in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University Of Virginia School Of Architecture and a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology from Emory University.

SECRETARY

Bill Dinkin is an attorney who has been practicing in Richmond, Virginia since 1990. He lives with his family in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond and enjoys the convenience and neighborliness of the historically walkable community. Bill is a former president of the Church Hill Association, where he gained first-hand experience with land use and zoning issues and with generally navigating the competing desire for new development in and around the neighborhood and the community's desire to maintain its existing character. Bill is interested in New Urbanism, old urbanism, transportation and affordable housing.

TREASURER

As a volunteer and professionally, Ed Fendley has worked for walkable, inclusive neighborhoods. Ed is a volunteer with Church Hill Trees and served as Vice President of the Church Hill Association, leading new efforts to improve safety for people walking and bicycling in Richmond’s East End. He served in the U.S. EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities, known as the smart growth office. Ed is an adjunct instructor of energy and environmental policy at the University of Maryland.

FOUNDER

Stewart is a founder of the Partnership for Smarter Growth. He is also the Executive Director and a founder of the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG) in the Washington, DC region, and a Board member of the Virginia Conservation Network. In these roles he has been a leader in local, regional, and state-level campaigns to address where and how the region grows. CSG has received multiple awards including the 2017 Council of Governments Regional Partnership Award, the Washington Business Journal Power100, and the Catalogue for Philanthropy best small charities. A retired Navy Captain with 24 years of active and reserve service, Mr. Schwartz earned a B.A. in Foreign Affairs and a J.D. from the University of Virginia, and an M.A. in National Security Studies from Georgetown University. He is a 2012 graduate of the UVA Sorensen Institute’s Political Leadership Program.

Trip Pollard is a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that works in Virginia and five other southern states to ensure a healthy environment for all people, strengthen our communities, and improve our quality of life. He leads SELC's Land and Community Program, which promotes sustainable transportation and smart growth throughout this region. Trip is a leader in shaping transportation, land use, and environmental policies: He has written dozens of reports and articles, and has served on numerous boards and governmental advisory bodies.

LaToya Gray-Sparks is a graduate student in urban and regional planning at the Wilder School at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Her research interests include urban history, historic preservation, housing policy and geographic information systems (GIS). In 2020, LaToya received international recognition for her story map titled, "Planned Destruction", which outlines the history of urban planning on Black residents in Richmond, Virginia. LaToya is currently interning as an Assistant Historian at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR), where she is working on projects that would increase the number of Black historic landmarks recognized in the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.

Barry Greene Jr. is a Richmond native who shares his desire for better transit, complete streets, and equitable neighborhoods for all. After stints in Brooklyn, NY, and Charlotte, NC; navigating in both car-free and car-dependent cities promoted a curiosity to be a part of the solution of ridding more people of the burden of owning a vehicle. During his time in Charlotte, he was selected for Cohort 9 of the City of Charlotte’s Civic Leadership Academy graduating with a better understanding of city economics. Barry is a fellow of NACTO’s Transportation Justice fellowship program Cohort 2022-2023.

Doug Allen first moved to Richmond in 2003 to pursue an Urban Planning degree at VCU. Doug is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), the Transportation Planning Division of the American Planning Association (APA), and the Federal Planning Division of the APA. Mr. Allen has been a vocal advocate for better pedestrian & bicycle infrastructure, transit improvements, and zoning reform in the Richmond region for close to a decade. Mr. Allen previously served on the Museum District Association (MDA) Zoning and Land Use Committee, as well as the MDA Board of Directors, where he worked to keep the Museum District a vibrant mixed-use and accessible neighborhood. Mr. Allen currently serves on the Virginia Bicycling Federation Board of Directors and is a primary organizer of Breakaway RVA – a monthly bicycle ride highlighting the lesser-known aspects of Richmond.