Nick Demarsh

Background

About Nick Demarsh

I am recent PhD graduate in the Urban Planning Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During this experience I had amazing opportunities to research community development and learned a great deal with partners including my work as a fellow with the Wisconsin Policy Forum and with Common Ground Development My experiences working with community-based organizations include: communicating with parents about lead poisoning prevention at Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, registering bus riders to vote with Citizen Action, and teaching composting workshops at Growing Power’s national conferences. In 2012, I co-created the Young Farmers Program with my former students. In its first year, the Young Farmers Program was recognized by Milwaukee residents as one of the best urban agriculture programs. The following year, I was hired by Groundwork Milwaukee. As Groundwork Milwaukee’s Food Systems Director, I also facilitated garden cluster meetings with organizations across the city. I have been a transportation advocate in Milwaukee for the past fifteen years. More recently, I have built on this work to work with state-wide and nation-wide networks of transit advocates. This work has resulted in numerous victories including the successful implementation Milwaukee's East-West Bus Rapid Transit project, Throughout my community-based projects and advocacy I have witnessed the power of community informed research. My ability to translate relevant experiences to academic research has garnered recognition. My research was recognized by the UW-Milwaukee Urban Studies Program for Outstanding research. I have presented my research at conferences in the US and Canada.