Background
Abby joined MPC as a research assistant in 2011 and was hired as an associate for the water resources program a year later. She focuses primarily on environmental planning, with an emphasis on water resources policy, planning and management. Her work includes leading a project to provide technical assistance on water conservation to the Northwest Water Planning Alliance in Chicago’s far northwest suburbs, and managing content and outreach for the “What Our Water’s Worth” campaign.
Abby hails from Duluth, Minn., and moved to Chicago in 2002, to attend the University of Chicago, where she received her bachelor’s degree in law, letters and society. After a brief stint in New York, N.Y., where she worked at a corporate law firm and was active in her Crown Heights, Brooklyn, neighborhood association, Abby returned to Chicago in 2008 to work as program associate and coastal project coordinator for the Alliance for the Great Lakes. She received her master’s degree in urban planning and policy, with concentrations in community development and environmental policy, from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2012 and was named the urban planning and policy student of the year. Abby is on the board of Women in Planning + Development, and an active member of the American Planning Association Illinois Chapter Diversity Committee. She lives on the Near North Side and spends her free time bike riding, swing dancing, and enjoying Chicago’s urban beaches.
Follow Abby and her work on Twitter @AbbyMPC