Chandra Christmas-Rouse
969 E. 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Policies are formulated in a social and political environment which gives them shape, and which they, in turn, can be expected to alter. This course surveys a range of...
Chandra Christmas-Rouse is an urban planner, advocate, and interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago. Her work is grounded in community development and environmental justice, emphasizing participatory processes that engage local stakeholders, support capacity building, and advance place-based solutions. Through her design and planning practice, she works to reimagine systems with a focus on racial equity and sustainability.
Chandra currently serves as a Senior Associate at PolicyLink, where she leads strategy to bridge technical assistance and capital for climate resilience projects in 25 cities across the Midwest and South. These efforts prioritize racial wealth equity and community-led transformation. Prior to joining PolicyLink, she was the Director of Housing and Community Development at the Metropolitan Planning Council, where she led housing policy initiatives and supported land use, equitable transit-oriented development, and legislative advocacy.
As a creative practitioner and educator, Chandra develops intergenerational, participatory projects that explore Black geographies, histories, and spatial narratives. She is the author of the graphic novel Where the Sidewalk Grows and creator of the Maplibs Project. Her professional background also includes policy strategy and consulting roles with organizations such as Enterprise Community Partners and UN-Habitat.
Chandra serves on the boards of Equiticity and the Illinois Clean Energy Jobs and Justice Fund. She was a 2020 Threewalls Artist Fellow and a 2023 Chicago United for Equity Fellow. She holds a BA in Environmental Sciences and Policy with distinction from Duke University and a Master of Urban Planning from Harvard University.