Brian Boland is a native of Cincinnati and the founder of Bridge Forward Cincinnati, an advocacy group working to reclaim 19 acres of city land from urban highways. He has a master’s degree in Urban Sustainability and Resilience and 30 years of experience in neighborhood revitalization. In addition to his work with Bridge Forward Cincinnati, Boland is one of the founders of CNU Midwest and a member of Strong Towns. He helped organize this year’s Congress for the New Urbanism, which will be held May 15-18 in Cincinnati, directly after the Strong Towns National Gathering.

• Bridge Forward Cincinnati (site).

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Christian Gray is a native of Southern California, but now resides in Omaha, Nebraska, with his family, where he is the co-executive director of inCOMMON Community Development, an organization that aims to alleviate poverty at a root level by uniting and strengthening vulnerable neighborhoods. Gray has worked in the field of national and international community development for 16 years, and we’re excited to have him on The Bottom-Up Revolution this week to talk about his community and the work he’s doing in it!

• inCOMMON Community Development (website).

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Sara Joy Proppe is a native of Texas, but lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has a degree in urban planning, and has over a decade of professional experience and managing private real estate development projects, as well as leading community placemaking workshops throughout the Midwest. She's the founder and director of Proximity Project, a consultancy that helps churches discover how they can use placemaking to connect with the local community.

• Proximity Project (website).

• Check out Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, Summit Avenue, Cathedral Hill, and West 7th St.

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Armando Moritz-Chapelliquen is a passionate community organizer in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. With extensive experience in providing reports and educational materials on community and economic development, he has collaborated with organizations such as the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, the U.S. Economic Development Administration, and the Local Initiative Support Corporation, where he currently serves. Beyond his professional commitments, Armando is a dedicated father and volunteers actively within his local school district. In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, we delve into Moritz-Chapelliquen’s role as a grassroots community advocate.

• Armando Moritz-Chapelliquen (LinkedIn; Twitter/X.)

• Check out Easton Public Market and Plants and Coffee.

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Maddy Novich is a criminal justice professor at Manhattan College, a mom of three, and an Instagram influencer living in New York City—you might know her as @cargobikemomma. Novich fell in love with cargo biking during a trip with her family to Europe in 2019, and launched an Instagram account when she came back to just share her love of biking around the city and to help other people, especially other women, realize that this mobility option is available to them.

• Maddy Novich (Instagram).

• Check out Vinetaria, Lalibela, and Double Dutch Espresso.

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Deatra Kemp is a native of Milwaukee with a long background in the real estate industry. She is passionate about helping close the home ownership gap within her city's Black and Hispanic communities. As the Vice President of Programs at Acts Housing, she oversees the homebuyer coaching, lending, and home rehab programs that help first-time homebuyers realize their dream of owning a home.

• Acts Housing (website).

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

On this week’s episode, we’ve got a special double interview with Adam Greenfield and Miriam Schoenfield, who are both freeway fighters based in Austin, Texas. Greenfield is a transportation and land-use advocate and co-founder of Rethink35. Schoenfield, who is a board member at Rethink35, is a professor at The University of Texas at Austin. Challenging the expansion of a massive highway is one of the biggest missions one can take on in any city, so we’re excited to have Greenfield and Schoenfield on the show to talk about this important work that they’re doing.

• Rethink35 (website).

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Jessica Peacock is a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, and for the past four years, she’s been fighting to reopen her great-grandparents’ neighborhood grocery store in the Walnut Terrace neighborhood. The endeavor has required her to go through an extensive rezoning process, and on this week’s episode, she’s going to share what that journey has been like for her.

• Peacox Market (website).

• “Raleigh Woman Battles City Hall to Reopen Her Great-Grandparents' Neighborhood Store,” by Asia Mieleszko, Strong Towns (May 2023).

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Today’s Bottom-Up Revolution guest is Jon Jon Wesolowski, who is an old friend of host Tiffany Owens Reed. Wesolowski lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with his wife and two kids and works full time in social media. Outside of work, he makes content for various social media platforms—mostly TikTok and Instagram—related to urbanist issues. He was a founding member of the Chattanooga Urbanist Society, a bottom-up group of residents who are making their city better through tactical action, and is also a member of the Chattanooga Local Conversation group.

On this episode, host Tiffany Owens Reed chats with Jennifer Gaughran. Gaughran is a resident of San Diego, California, and outside of her full-time job in marketing, she runs the Strong Towns Toastmasters group, where folks interested in cities and public speaking gather every week online to refine their speaking skills, while talking about various urban issues and Strong Towns concepts.

• Learn more about Strong Towns Toastmasters.

• Check out Gaughran’s adventure story podcast for children, The Adventures of Red Knight.

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Check out the Gaslamp Quarter, Balboa Park, and Old Town.

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

On this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, host Tiffany Owens Reed chats with Dustin LaFont. LaFont is the proud executive director of Front Yard Bikes, a youth workforce development program providing safe spaces for youth in Baton Rogue, Louisiana, to learn bike mechanics, welding, urban gardening, cooking, riding safety, and providing after-school jobs.

LaFont first began repairing bikes with a few kids on his front yard in the summer of 2010, but as demand grew, the community rallied behind the project. Through the years, Front Yard Bikes has included over 2,000 youth and more than 10,000 bikes. With two after-school sites and a full-service bike shop in Mid City, Front Yard Bikes has become the largest community bike shop in the state and hopes to do even more with the amazing youth that champion the good work.

• Front Yard Bikes (website).

• Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram).

• Check out Highland Coffees, City Roots, Chow Yum, and French Truck Coffee.

• Do you know someone who would make for a great Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!