Attend to hear City of Austin updates & learn how to be involved, connect to more groups in District 1 to improve quality of life in the district, and provide your input into a list of resident priorities to bring to District 1 & City Council for attention in City policy.

at Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex

1156 Hargrave St, Austin TX 78702

Food available for purchase

Nefertitti Jackmon

City of Austin Housing & Planning Department, Displacement Prevention Division

Nefertitti Jackmon is a Cultural Strategist serving as Austin’s first Community Displacement Prevention Officer. Jackmon leads the Housing Department’s Displacement Prevention Office where she is instrumental in developing and leading programming and outreach, including the $300 million anti-displacement investments for Project Connect, described as a “comprehensive transit system expansion that will help transform Austin into one of the most sustainable, inclusive and innovative regions in the country.”  

Anne Gatling Haynes

Austin Economic Development Corporation

Anne Gatling Haynes is the Chief Transactions Officer of the Austin Economic Development Corporation, which is a local government corporation set up by the City of Austin to implement equitable development in the City. She is responsible for leading real estate strategy and project/program implementation for the organization.  Anne is  a resident of Cherrywood after having lived  in small and large cities across the United States, working in community and economic development initiatives to ensure community benefit.

Sharon Mays

District 1 Office

Sharon Mays recently joined the District 1 team at the Chief of Staff. Ms Mays is an Austin native whose career includes being an award-winning entrepreneur and public speaker. She has spent years working in service to the Austin community. Her past volunteer roles include: Austin Travis County Food Policy Board, Austin Food & Wine Alluance, North Austin Community Garden, North Austin YMCA Board, Metro Austin YMCA Board, and a Travis County Volunteer VDR who has been registering voters for more than 25 years.

Misael Ramos

Blackland Community Development Corporation

Misael Ramos is a community advocate who focuses on affordable housing, anti-displacement, and transportation. He currently leads affordable housing efforts for the
Blackland Community Development Corporation as board President and has worked on multiple anti-displacement initiatives for the City of Austin.

In his full-time work, he serves as a Business Analyst Manager for the Texas General Land Office where he manages a team of business analysts, partners with stakeholders to problem solve, and collaborates cross-functionally to streamline processes at scale.

Amanda Masino

Huston-Tillotson, Department of Natural Science

Amanda Masino, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Biology and Chair of Natural Sciences at Huston-Tillotson University, where she blends scientific investigation with community action. Amanda directs HT’s STEM Research Scholars, an undergraduate research program, and the St. David’s Foundation’s Scholars, a health careers scholarship and mentorship program. She also heads HT’s Environmental Justice academic program, co-founded and co-organizes HT’s annual environmental justice conference, the Building Green Justice Forum, and pursues research interests in affordable housing impacts, health disparities, and environmental health through the Center for Health Equity and Justice

Carmen D. Llanes

Go Austin Vamos Austin (GAVA)

Carmen D. Llanes is a second-generation community organizer and the founding executive director of Go Austin/ Vamos Austin or GAVA, a nonprofit that organizes and mobilizes community power for health equity in Austin's Eastern Crescent. Carmen has served on a variety of City of Austin commissions including Planning, Independent Citizens Redistricting, and Latino Quality of Life (a Resource Advisory commission), and before GAVA was a community organizer at PODER in East Austin, and a program manager at Marathon Kids. She's also a proud graduate of LBJ High School in District 1. 

Janis Bookout

Austin Earth Day and Community Resilience Trust ATX

Founder of Earth Day Austin and Co-founder of Community Resilience Trust (CRT), Janis Bookout is a regional influencer in environmental justice and racial equity. Her work focuses on addressing societal inequities in the face of climate pressures, and fostering multi-racial and multi-sector collaborations on issues that impact public health. As an advocate for anti-racism and inclusive communication, she strengthens equity-focused networks, and has advised Austin's resilience initiatives and committees. Beyond CRT and Earth Day Austin, Janis also works through her consulting collaborative, Workable World, and champions the belief that "Life is too beautiful to leave anyone out."

Alexandria Anderson

Raasin in the Sun, MLKNA

Alexandria Anderson is a Health & Wellness Entrepreneur and owner of Essential Fitness ATX. As an activist for creatives in Austin especiallyEast Austin, she helps to lead Raasin in the Sun nonprofit as Director of Operations and Board Chair. She is the current chair of the Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association and Co-chair of the East MLK Contact Team, as her passions for true affordability and intentional, innovative housingsolutions guide her work in the community.

Chris Baker

Other Ones Foundation

Chris Baker is the founder and Executive Director of The Other Ones Foundation, a nonprofit on a mission to transition Austin's unhoused neighbors into an engaged community through shelter, opportunity, and support. Since graduating from the State University of New York at Oneonta in 2007, Chris has worked many different jobs in the field of homeless services and activism, but also as a musician, writer, and even paralegal. He started The Other Ones Foundation in the summer of 2017 to bring his innovative ideas for addressing homelessness to life via a client centered, people first approach.

Chase Wright

Hungry Hill Foundation

Founder/Executive Director at Hungry Hill Foundation. We support East Austin residents on their re-entry journey from unhoused to self-sufficient citizens through a holistic multi-tiered work/apprenticeship program. We seek to establish HHF as a new and more effective model for addressing long-term homelessness that can be replicated within our city, our state and eventually our country. It is hard work putting people to work. But, no one is beyond help and everyone can be productive if given the right opportunities and support.

Charles Loosen

Austin Public Health, Homeless Strategy

Established in 2019, the Homeless Strategy Division (HSD) is tasked with coordinating the City of Austin’s response to homelessness across over 15 departments that are involved in affordable housing development, social service contracting and delivery, and public space management. Charles supports the Division’s community and stakeholder engagement, which includes interfacing with individual residents, neighborhood associations and HOAs, businesses, advocacy groups and mutual aid organizations, service providers, and internal departments. His engagement activities and research have informed development of the Homeless Encampment Management (HEM) Team, and the creation of a mobile encampment assessment tool used to guide prioritization and triage of the City’s response to public camping.