Since 1987, Lisa Schamess has worked with a variety of nonprofit organizations concerned about the quality of communities and the rights of individuals. Her clients have included the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Institute of Architects, Smart Growth America, and several administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In the 1980s, when Lisa was a rookie staff assistant at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, she assisted in the Critical Issues Fund, a visionary program that supported the then-new growth management effort, which gave rise to the Smart Growth movement. Lisa was a founding staff member of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership, which led the fight to recraft federal transportation funding for all modes of transportation, not just highways.

Lisa's current and recent clients include the National Building Museum, Smart Growth America, the National Vacant Properties Campaign and Conference of Minority Transportation Officials. She also contributes to Planning magazine and the Beliefnet web site, and has taught rhetoric and literature in her spare time at Emerson Preparatory School.

Samples of Lisa's recent work are on the web at these addresses:

The Returning City: Historic Preservation and Transit in the Age of Civic Renewal
Written for the National Trust for Historic Preservation
--Part 1
--Part 2

Blueprint Buffalo
written for the National Vacant Properties Campaign

Columns for Beliefnet