Equitable Community Engagement: Moving from Insight to Action

Traceé is a national expert in environmental justice analysis and outreach, with more than 28 years of experience in transportation engineering and planning projects. She is currently a Senior Director at PRR where she is responsible for the East Coast Transportation Practice and serves as the firm’s environmental justice (EJ) practice lead. As a public involvement practitioner focused on grassroots outreach and consensus building, Traceé manages public involvement programs and conducts Title VI analysis including the development of outreach programs to reach limited-English Proficient populations. She offers technical expertise in community impact assessment and conducts peer reviews for complex projects. Traceé served as the PRR project manager, co-author, lead trainer and facilitator for USDOT’s Promising Practices for Meaningful Public Involvement in Transportation Decision-Making Guide and as co-author and trainer for FHWA’s 2018 update of the Community Impact Assessment: A Quick Reference for Transportation handbook. She is a member of Women’s Transportation Seminar and involved in Transportation Research Board Committees: Chair, Equity in Transportation (AME10) and Community Resources and Impacts (AME80) member. Ms. Strum-Gilliam began her career at the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration in 1996. She has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Morgan State University, M.S. in Environmental Planning and Management from Johns Hopkins University and is a certified planner as designated by the American Institute of Certified Planners.

Dave Biggs is an internationally recognized expert in public engagement and using software to enhance public participation for planning. As a co-founder of MetroQuest, he has authored books and papers on planning, sustainability, and public engagement. Dave is a frequent speaker at conferences and webinars, and contributor to industry journals, where he lends insight into best practices for optimizing public engagement outcomes.

As North America Practice Lead at Social Pinpoint, Marti supports and cultivates best practices in online community engagement within the public and non-profit sectors. Previously, Marti worked as Principal Environmental Planner at the City of Pittsburgh, which received the 2024 IAP2 USA Core Values Award for Organization of the Year. As a member of the Department of City Planning’s Sustainability and Resilience Division, Marti led park planning across the city, working to create long-term visions and investment strategies that reflected resident priorities in parks and open spaces.

As North America Practice Lead at Social Pinpoint, Sophia Robison supports and builds a community of best practice in public engagement within the public and non-profit sectors, particularly as it relates to the use of digital technology. Previously, Sophia worked in local government, with the City of Pittsburgh's Department of City Planning and as an Economic Development Planner for the Town of Brookline, MA. She graduated from Cornell University where she received a Master of City and Regional Planning in 2017, and continued training with the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2).