Jason Reece
Jason Reece
Director of Research
Jason is the Director of Research for the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity at The Ohio State University. Jason was formerly the director of the opportunity communities program and has worked for the Institute since 2003. His work involves outreach, education, advocacy and policy research on issues related to fair housing/opportunity based housing, community development, neighborhood revitalization, regional equity and GIS. He co-developed the methodology for opportunity mapping with john a. powell, a methodology which has been adopted or utilized by more than two dozen non-profit and philanthropic partners and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
His professional experience includes program administration, project management, program development, team & staff management, grant writing, strategic planning, research & policy consultation. Jason has directly managed more than $3 million in funded research and community based projects since 2007. He has extensive experience working in the non-profit sector and public sector at the city, regional and state level, and experience acting as a facilitator for both small and large group activities. He has assisted community organizations, philanthropic organizations, public agencies and other non-profit or faith based organizations in more than twenty states, recognized as a national expert in utilizing data and mapping to assist in social justice advocacy, community building and civic engagement.
Jason has published 10 professional journal articles and book chapters and more than 50 commissioned research reports. He has been an invited expert speaker for approximately seventy professional or community engagements and a dozen college classes in the past four years. Some of his recent publications include Perspectives on Community Economic Development in a Global Economy in the publication CED in the Global Economy published by the American Bar Association and Poverty’s Place: The Use of Geographic Information Systems in Poverty Advocacy published in Clearinghouse Review Journal of Poverty Law and Policy. Jason also is a lecturer in the Ohio State University’s department of City & Regional Planning, teaching on issues of social equity in planning and development.
Prior to working for the Kirwan Institute, Jason was a regional planner for the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments working on issues of community/economic development, land use and transportation. He also has worked in rural community and economic development for Ohio State University Extension, where much of his work focused on Ohio’s exurban areas and the Appalachian region. Jason has worked for the Ohio Department of Development in the Office of Strategic Research and for a municipal planning agency. He has been active in the field of GIS for twelve years, including time working as a research assistant managing GIS laboratories at Miami University and as a GIS consultant. Jason was certified AICP by the American Institute of Certified Planners in 2003. He received a Master’s degree in City and Regional planning from The Ohio State University and studied city planning abroad at the Technical University of Dresden, Germany. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban and Regional planning from Miami University. Jason is currently completing his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning at The Ohio State University, exploring the role of planning, regional policy and civic engagement in supporting social equity.
Research Interests: Community Development, Neighborhood Revitalization, Housing Policy; Regional equity; GIS