Cassia Herron

Cassia Herron is a community development professional, urban planner, and public policy activist with over 20 years of experience working at the intersections of community and economic development, food systems, and the built environment. She is a co-founder and past president of the Louisville Association for Community Economics (LACE), where she led efforts to open a community-owned grocery store and grow the city's cooperative ecosystem.13

Some key facts about Cassia Herron:

• She has a BA in Liberal Studies with a minor in Pan-African Studies from the University of Louisville, and a Master's in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan.56

• Herron works as a planning and strategy consultant and freelance writer with a diversity of clients, including nonprofits and entrepreneurs in the start-up phase.14

• She is the immediate past chair of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, where she instituted a staff union and an organizational change initiative that centers DEI practices and BIPOC leadership.4

• Herron has organized farmers' markets in West Louisville, supported the creation of Louisville Metro's Farm to Table program, and helped secure a $7.9 million CDC grant for the Louisville Public Health Department for obesity prevention.2

• She is passionate about building power in Louisville and across Kentucky, working to transform the local food system through a lens of racial justice and economic equity.3

So in summary, Cassia Herron is a highly experienced community organizer, urban planner, and consultant who has dedicated her career to advancing economic and food justice in Louisville and beyond. Her LinkedIn username is cassia-herron-aa464b4.