Background

Andrew Trueblood's practice focuses on three areas: regional economic development coalitions, place-based planning and strategy, and housing policy and finance. He works with national nonprofits, business improvement districts, civic organizations, philanthropy, and government agencies, with a continuing focus on Washington, DC.

Andrew has worked closely with more than twenty economic development coalitions across the country, largely through America Achieves, helping them build the case for federal, state, and philanthropic investment and operate sustainably once they receive funding. That work spans assembling cross-sector partners, developing the strategy and evidence base competitive applications require, and standing up the governance structures that turn an award into delivered projects.

Housing is a key element of Andrew's practice on both the finance and the policy side. Andrew began at the DC Housing Authority and the Treasury Department's CDFI Fund, supporting capital and development in underinvested communities. As Director of DC's Office of Planning he helped set and implement the Mayor's goal of producing 36,000 new housing units in five years, which was achieved. He now serves as senior advisor for housing at the DC Policy Center and has advised on Colorado's Middle Income Housing Authority and Nashville's housing finance program, focusing on the structures and policies that help jurisdictions produce and preserve units at scale.

Place-based strategy draws on Andrew's planning background and decade inside DC government, where he served as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and then Director of the Office of Planning. He led the update to DC's Comprehensive Plan in 2021, and the Downtown Action Plan, DC's response to the post-COVID remote work shift, which set out a path toward a mixed-use downtown with residents at its center. He continues that work in Downtown East, where he is working with stakeholders to create a new area of innovation in the core of the city.

Andrew is a nonresident fellow at the Urban Institute, an adjunct curator at the National Building Museum, and adjunct faculty at Georgetown University. He serves as Vice-Chair of the DC Public Library Board of Trustees and sits on the board of the Urban Libraries Council.

He holds a Master in City Planning from MIT and a B.A. from Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs.