Jillian Olinger

Jillian Olinger
Research Associate

Jillian is a Research Associate in the Opportunity Communities program at the Kirwan Institute, who advocates and researches at the community and policy levels. She has researched and co-written twenty publications in her time at Kirwan. She has traveled all over the country to work with community and advocacy groups around issues ranging from community engagement, community development, and fair housing and fair credit reform. 

Jillian recently concluded an opportunity mapping project for the PICO National Network and affiliates in New Orleans, LA and Kansas City, MO. around Emergency Room usage (2012). These reports will be used to generate community advocacy and capacity for health care reform in targeted sites within New Orleans and Kansas City. She was lead researcher on three reports that were outcomes of the collaborative development of the “Shining the Light” advocacy and organizing framework with ISAIAH Minnesota (2010). This work ultimately resulted in a 1,600-person faith summit with MN Governor-elect Mark Dayton, work that continues to produce results in the region. The “Shining the Light” Kirwan report for the St. Cloud area has galvanized the community around one of the report’s most pressing issues – the rising poverty in the area’s elementary schools. As a result of the research, St. Cloud has been developing  a “Promise Neighborhood” for restorative investment in St. Cloud’s poorest neighborhood (2012).

Jillian has undergraduate degrees in Sociology and Biology, with Minors in Cultures and Communities and Urban Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; graduate degrees in City and Regional Planning, and in Public Policy and Management from the Ohio State University.

Research Interests: equitable community development, housing policy, and community engagement.