Leigh Graham

Leigh T. Graham, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Psychology. She is also faculty in the Department of Public Management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she directs the Tow Policy Advocacy Fellowship at the Prisoner Reentry Institute.   Her research focuses on the contentious politics of urban redevelopment, especially after disasters and in periods of crisis, with particular emphasis on the roles of race, class, and geography in shaping participation and outcomes in redevelopment processes.  Dr. Graham’s work on Hurricane Sandy recovery in Rockaway, Queens and the Lower East Side has been published in Global Environmental Change. Her work on community economic redevelopment in Lower Manhattan after September 11, 2001 is featured in Economic Development Quarterly.  Her analysis of the struggle to preserve public housing in post-Katrina New Orleans is published in JAPA and Housing Policy Debate.  Leigh has also served as a consultant to foundations and non-profits on affordable housing and neighborhood redevelopment; she was the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation in Boston, MA, prior to joining CUNY.