Brittney Drakeford is a believer in FATE – the practice of combining faith, arts, and

technology to energize communities to create equitable places for generations today

and tomorrow. She is a current PhD candidate in the Urban and Regional Planning and Design Program at the University of Maryland College Park; an alumna of Wake Forest University (M.S. in Management 2011) and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (B.A. in African American Studies and B.S. in Journalism and Mass Communications 2009).

Her research and practice centers on the legacies of post-reconstruction African American communities; the ways in which the built environment and public infrastructure hold the memories of discrimination; and how the intangible cultural heritage of the marginalized can be leveraged to establish shared leadership and collective action. 

Drakeford has 15 years of experience in community development, business development, program design and evaluation, creative placemaking, sustainable agriculture, and urban planning