WALC hires outreach director

Walkable and Livable Communities Institute invests in helping communities engage the public, hires outreach director

For Immediate Release: February 15, 2011

(Port Townsend, Wash.) – As part of its effort to help communities engage the public in making their towns and neighborhoods healthier and more livable, the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute has hired a full-time director of outreach and communications.

Kelly Morphy, who brings to the Institute more than 14 years of experience in communications and public outreach, joined the Institute last week and will immediately turn her focus to working directly with communities the Institute serves to help them become healthier, better connected, more accessible and more sustainable through effective and meaningful civic engagement.

The Institute seeks to improve the built form, health and accessibility of communities throughout the world by providing training on integrating land-use planning and transportation planning, developing Safe Routes to School programs, supporting “aging-in-place” initiatives, implementing “complete streets,” conducting walking audits and workshops, and connecting practitioners with resources and best practices.

“One of our core philosophies is that engaging the public in a meaningful way is critical to developing truly walkable and livable communities,” said Dan Burden, executive director and co-founder of the Institute. “With Kelly on board, we are able to redouble our efforts to support communities in doing just that.”

Morphy is a former journalist whose career in public service includes conducting public and media outreach for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District in Fresno, California; spearheading fundraising efforts for an emergency shelter for teenagers in Guam; and managing public relations for a program of the Guam National Olympic Committee. Morphy’s experience in active transportation includes serving as communications and marketing manager for the Orlando-based urban design firm Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin (now part of AECOM) and, more recently, as owner of Morphy Consulting, LLC.

Morphy joins the following Institute staff members in helping communities become more livable:

• Burden, whose commitment to getting the world get back on its feet earned him recognition in 2001 by TIME magazine as “one of the six most important civic innovators in the world.”
• Sarah Bowman, general manager and co-founder, a former Audubon Coordinator for the University of Notre Dame and tenured professor of English at Wright College in Chicago.
• Kirby Hollingsworth, project coordinator, whose interest in livability was sparked while backpacking in East Africa, leading her to an early career as a main street program manager, then as a special projects coordinator for the DeSoto County (Fla.) Health Department, before joining the Institute

For more information, or to interview Burden or Morphy, please contact Sarah Bowman at (360) 385-3421.