Andre M. Perry is a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, a scholar-in-residence at American University, and a columnist for the Hechinger Report. He is the author of the new book Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities, which is currently available wherever books are sold. A nationally known and respected commentator on race, structural inequality, and education, Perry is a regular contributor to MSNBC and has been published by The New York Times, The Nation, The Washington Post, TheRoot.com and CNN.com. Perry has also made appearances on CNN, PBS, National Public Radio, NBC, and ABC. His research focuses on race and structural inequality, education, and economic inclusion. Perry’s recent scholarship at Brookings has analyzed Black-majority cities and institutions in America, focusing on valuable assets worthy of increased investment. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Perry has documented the underlying causes for the outsized number of coronavirus-related deaths in Black communities. His Brookings research has illuminated how certain forms of social distancing historically accelerated economic and social disparities between Black people and the rest of the country. Perry also mapped racial inequities in housing, income, and health to underscore how policy discrimination makes Black Americans more vulnerable to COVID-19. His research has spotlighted the struggles of Black businesses—including artists and art institutions, restaurants, and barbershops and beauty salons—as they await federal relief from COVID-19’s economic impact. In education, he explained how college campus closings put housing-insecure students at risk during the pandemic. He's also written on the unrealized value of teachers’ work that’s been made apparent by COVID-19, and has commented on the potential loss of Black teachers as a result of an impending recession. Prior to his work at Brookings, Perry has been a founding dean, professor, award-winning journalist, and activist in the field of education. In 2015, Perry served on Louisiana Governor-elect John Bel Edwards’ K-12 education transition committee, as well as on New Orleans Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu’s transition team as its co-chair for education in 2010. In 2013, Perry founded the College of Urban Education at Davenport University in Grand Rapids, Mich. Preceding his stint in Michigan, he was an associate professor of educational leadership at the University of New Orleans and served as CEO of the Capital One-University of New Orleans Charter Network. Perry’s academic writings have concentrated on race, structural inequality, and urban schools. Perry co-authored the Brookings Institution report “The Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods” and has presented its findings across the country, including to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. For the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Perry co-authored “School by School: The Transformation of New Orleans Public Education” in Resilience and Opportunity: Lessons from the U.S. Gulf Coast after Katrina and Rita, published by Brookings Institution Press. Perry also co-authored "The Transformation of New Orleans Public Schools: Addressing System-Level Problems Without a System," published by the Data Center of New Orleans. He also co-authored a chapter in Between Public and Private: Politics, Governance, and the New Portfolio Models for Urban School Reform published by Harvard Education Press. Along with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Perry co-authored the report “Place Matters for Health in Orleans Parish: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All.” A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Perry earned his Ph.D. in education policy and leadership from the University of Maryland College Park.

Dennis Perkins EDUCATION: New York University : M.S. - Real Estate Development and Investment Florida A&M University: School of Business & Industry B.S. - Business Administration LICENSES: District of Columbia Principal Broker State of Maryland: Principal Broker Commonwealth of Virginia: Principal Broker PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND: Civitas - President CBRE- Vice- President Trammell Crow Co. - Vice-President Studley, Inc. - Associate Director Dennis Perkins, President of CIVITAS Commercial Real Estate Services, LLC, provides real estate advisory and brokerage services to both public and private sector clients. Mr. Perkins has 20 years of specific expertise in commercial real estate transaction management, strategic planning, market research, financial modeling and portfolio administration. Mr. Perkins’s commercial real estate background includes experience as an analyst, advisor and broker for a number of municipalities, national and local corporations and nonprofit organizations. He has also provided agency representation to real estate asset management companies, owner-operators and owner-occupiers during his career. Mr. Perkins has participated as a member of several civic and community organizations including the District of Columbia’s Nonprofit Taskforce and Downtown Retail Tax Increment Financing Committee, the Board of Directors of Jubilee Housing Support Alliance and Hope Community Inc. of East Harlem in NYC and most recently a Trustee and member of the Project Management Committee of St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School in Washington DC. He serves as a member of the Commercial Real Estate Broker Association, District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce, District of Columbia Building Industry Association, African American Real Estate Professionals of Washington, DC and the Board of Directors of Academic Achievement of the Mid-Atlantic Region and WINNERS Lacrosse (The Washington Inner City Lacrosse Foundation).

Sonja M. Ewing, AICP began in the Spring of 2016 as a Supervisor of the Park Planning Section for the Department of Parks and Recreation of the Prince George’s County (a part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, M-NCPPC). She was promoted to Assistant Division Chief for the Park Planning and Development Division, in the Fall of 2019. Sonja has a rich background and extensive experience as an urban planner, urban designer, college professor, and urban planning consultant in both urban and suburban settings. Her team has completed park master plans for Watkins Regional Park and the DPR Trail Network, as well as supporting the outreach for projects such as the Tucker Road Ice Rink, Peppermill CC, SAARC. Ms. Ewing’s work focuses on community engagement, placemaking, participatory design and sustainable development. Previously she was with the Fairfax County Office of Community Revitalization, where she served as the Revitalization Program Manager and Urban Designer for the Silver Line Transit stations in Reston, VA. In a previous role as a Planner Coordinator for the Prince George’s County Planning Department, also a part of M-NCPPC, she was the Project Leader for the Subregion 4 Master Plan. Subregion 4 is the “Heart of Prince George’s County” and encompasses an area 29 square miles, extending from US Route 50 southward to Suitland Parkway, between the District of Columbia and the Capital Beltway. The plan encompasses an area where new and older suburban neighborhoods are balanced by planned development that is more urban in character near the study area’s 8 metro stations. Sonja was also responsible for preparing the Land Use, Resource Prioritization and Urban Design elements of the Plan Prince George’s 2035 General Land Use Plan. In addition, Sonja served as the liaison to park department’s Formula 2040 Master Plan. She holds dual masters’ degrees in Urban Design from the Washington University School of Architecture in St. Louis, Missouri, and in Community Planning from the University of Cincinnati School of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Washington University in Architecture and African American Studies. Ms. Ewing has instructed courses in urban planning and urban design at Catholic University, the University Detroit Mercy and the University of Cincinnati.