Gilda Haas

Gilda Haas is an organizer, educator, and economic development professional who has been helping grassroots organizations build economies from the ground up for thirty years. Ms. Haas has taught economic development at UCLA’s Department of Urban Planning for 25 years, where she also founded the Community Scholars Program. Ms. Haas recently left her position as the founding Executive Director of Strategic Actions for A Just Economy (SAJE), an economic justice and development organization that is dedicated to building economic power for working-class people in Los Angeles to devote more time to coaching, consulting, and the "Dr. Pop" (www.drpop.org [2]) website. SAJE’s achievements include leading the effort to negotiate the “Staples Agreement” between the Figueroa Corridor Coalition for Economic Justice and the Anschutz Entertainment Group; creating the nation’s first welfare-to-work bank account; and organizing the autonomous Figueroa Corridor Community Land Trust. Gilda Haas is a co-founder of the national Right to the City Alliance. Ms. Haas current research interests are related to the Right to the City, urban land reform, popular economics, and strategies for building effective democratic organization. Gilda Haas was recently awarded two fellowships. The first is the Durfee Stanton Fellowship which will supports a two-year effort to turn her signature popular education programs and other popular economics into accessible and interactive Web 2.0 format. The second is the Synergos Senior Fellows Program which is an international learning network of people who have been working on issues related to inequality for a substantial number of years.

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