Liz Blume

Liz Blume is the Director of the Community Building Institute (CBI) at Xavier University. She has built her career blending community organizing principles with community planning processes. She is a planning professional with more than 30 years of experience in the field. She had led multiple city, county, and neighborhood planning processes, always with the voice of the community at the heart, and with an asset based lens. She has led research efforts on important issues facing many metropolitan areas today including affordable housing, urban education, land use, community and economic development, equity and community engagement.

Blume has also been the Co-Director of a Master’s program in Urban Sustainability and Resilience at Xavier University. This interdisciplinary program incorporated principles from public policy, planning, and business to help students prepare for careers in environmental sustainability and resilience. Her work in this program was a natural outgrowth of her years of experience in urban settings in southwest Ohio. She has also served as the Planning Director in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, and worked as a planning consultant throughout the Midwest.

Blume holds a Undergraduate degree in Political Science and Urban Studies from Ball State University and a Masters in Metropolitan and Community Planning from the College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning at the University of Cincinnati.