Laura Brown is a Community & Economic Development Educator with Uconn Extension and Certified Economic Developer (CEcD). Laura’s statewide work is focused on asset based community, regional and economic development in urban and underserved communities. Prior to joining the University of Connecticut in 2014 Laura served as an educator with the University of Wisconsin-Extension and the Hartford Food System. Laura holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Communications from Clark University.
Community Development Interns
Summer 2019 – Kevin Faulkner
The Connecticut Economic Development Association is pleased to welcome Kevin Fitzgerald as the program intern for the newly launched Best Practices in Land Use and Economic Development Program. Kevin will assist with development, research and administration of the program. Kevin is an incoming Master of Public Administration candidate with the University of Connecticut and a 2018 graduate from UConn in Political Science and Urban & Community Studies. While in Storrs, Kevin completed his Honors Thesis in Political Science on the use of eminent domain for economic development in the 2005 Kelo v. New London decision. Kevin plans to focus his coursework on development and urban planning and after completing his masters Kevin looks forward to pursuing a law degree and assisting towns with economic development projects as a land use attorney. Kevin spent this past spring interning in the Town of Stonington’s Department of Planning and he looks forward to contributing to the Town of Berlin’s Kensington Village development as a member of the UConn MPA program. In his free time Kevin likes to follow UConn and Boston sports, run, and hike.
Summer 2018 – Madeleine Aseltine
Madeleine served as the 2018 Extension summer intern and developed a white paper on the health benefits of the Derby, Greenway.
Summer 2018 – Hope Frew
Hope served as a Summer intern in 2018 and assisted with the development of the Local Economic Development Organization Survey Report.
Summer – Fall 2017 – Ryan Faulkner
Ryan, UConn BA Economics 2017, has helped with our National First Impressions Research by interviewing program directors across the country and analyzing the results. Ryan also assisted with the Connecticut Trail Census project with helping to input, analyze and report on trail user survey data. Lastly, he has taken part in our First Impression exchanges and coordinated interviews for the evaluation on the First Impressions Program. He collected footage of the visits and interviews of participants to be used for an informational video on the First Impressions Program.
Ryan is pursuing a career in Planning and looking into graduate programs, with research interests in Sustainable Economic Development and Environmental Planning. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, photography and traveling.
2016-2017 – Becky Pejinsky is pursuing her Master of Public Health at Southern Connecticut State University. She is interested in environmental and community health and therefore is helping us with our current multi-use trails program. Becky has previously worked as a health educator so she will be helping us analyze trail use data in regards to well-being. She is also a strong advocate for sustainable practices. In her free time she enjoys traveling, hiking and camping.
2015-2016 Jessica Powell, a native of Massachusetts is pursuing her Master’s degree in Community Development through the University of New Hampshire. Jessica spent 3 years working for a non-profit housing partnership in Boston before moving to Connecticut in Fall of 2015. With her she brings program management and capacity building experience as well as a strong background in monitoring and evaluation. She will use this applied experience in her work on the CT Trails Project with UConn Cooperative Extension through Spring 2016.
2015-2016 John McDonald is a Psychology major and Urban and Community Studies minor at UConn’s Waterbury campus. John considers himself an explorer of the physical environment and is interested in the historical, cultural, and psychological significance of our landscapes. John is an avid hiker and blogger and lives in New Haven with his wife and five cats. In his work for UConn Extension during the Summer of 2015 John completed a literature review of economic impact analyses of multi-use trails and greenways. He is now working on an independent study with Extension which will include studying the theoretical foundations for the Community First Impressions Exchange program, assisting with data analysis for the multi-use trails program, and writing short articles on trails and land use for the Community Development Extension blog on this site called “Community Perspectives.”