Fostering Rural Job Creation through Nature-Based Redevelopment

Join Just Communities and Erin Kizer of The Industrial Commons as we explore how rural communities are leading the way in rethinking how resources are used, reducing waste, and transforming abandoned landways into spaces of work, housing, and possibility. This webinar will highlight how transforming an abandoned factory site into The Innovation Campus is creating new possibilities for rural job creation and manufacturing that reuse resources, reduce waste, and retain value in the community.

Webinar Speaker

Erin Kizer, Senior Director of Infrastructure at The Industrial Commons

Erin is the Senior Director of Infrastructure at The Industrial Commons and the General Manager of Material Return. She is overseeing development of a 30-acre brownfield site, to become The Innovation Campus, and 10 acres of cooperative housing. After graduating from Cornell University, Erin taught in Philadelphia public schools as a part of Teach for America, and later did a volunteer year with AmeriCorps VISTA, before pursuing a master’s degree in Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Tufts University. Following graduate school, she worked at the local, state, and federal government level in positions related to environmental policy and compliance. Erin later turned her attention towards sustainable building issues, working at organizations in Boston, MA that helped homeowners improve the energy efficiency, affordability, and durability of their homes. Erin came to Industrial Commons after a 5 year stint as the Chief Operations Officer of a direct-to-consumer textile company, producing at Opportunity Threads, a cut and sew business in The Industrial Commons’ ecosystem.

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Innovation Campus — The Industrial Commons