Connecting People to Opportunity

Team

Don Chen

Senior Program Officer New York

Don Chen works on reforming the rules that shape municipal and regional growth by pursuing integrated approaches to affordable housing, public transportation, land use and community planning. His grant making supports institutions working to reduce poverty and provide economic opportunities for low-income people through equitable development in U.S. metropolitan areas.

Don joined the Ford Foundation in 2008. Previously he was the founding executive director and CEO of Smart Growth America, where he led efforts to create the National Vacant Properties Campaign and the Transportation for America Campaign, and orchestrated a merger with the Growth Management Leadership Alliance.

He co-authored "Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change" (Urban Land Institute, 2008) and "Once There Were Greenfields: How Urban Sprawl Is Undermining America's Environment, Economy and Social Fabric" (Natural Resources Defense Council, 1999) and also wrote "The Science of Smart Growth," which appeared in Scientific American (December 2000).

He was a founding board co-chairman of the Environmental Leadership Program, and served on the boards of West Harlem Environmental Action and Grist magazine. Don has a master's degree from the Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and a bachelor's degree in political science from Yale.