Title: Healthy Community Design Specialist
Organization: Centralina Council of Governments
Location: Charlotte, NC

Katherine Hebert is the Healthy Community Design Specialist for the Centralina Council of Governments. She has eight years of experience with city and regional planning and healthy community design work including working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the Town of Davidson, North Carolina. She is an experienced Heath Impact Assessment (HIA) practitioner having led or advised on fourteen HIAs, as well as a national presenter and published author. Her current work includes Plan4Health NC, a statewide initiative to equip planners and public health professionals to create healthy communities, and working with local partners to increase physical activity opportunities in West Charlotte. She is also the policy chair for the American Planning Association’s Healthy Communities Collaborative and has served on the boards for the North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association and the Society of Practitioners of HIA.

Katherine has a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, Environmental Policy and Planning from Appalachian State University.

Why are you motivated to participate in the Health Leaders Network? How will your participation enhance your current and future work?

I am motivated to participate in this program because I have substantial partnerships with nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies working to improve public health through better community design but limited experience working with developers and real estate professionals. I see this as an opportunity to enhance my current and future work by networking with the private sector and gaining a better understanding of their perspective and motivation for designing developments to be health-promoting. I also hope to have meaningful conversations around the importance of affordable housing, preventing gentrification, and taking a holistic approach to providing community services in all neighborhoods.