Amber Trout, Ph.D., Senior Associate, has extensive organizational and leadership development, change management, and capacity building experience in the nonprofit, federal, and philanthropic sectors. Her strengths lie in her expertise facilitating and organizing racial equity and organizational change efforts to promote system-wide transformation at leadership, organization, and community levels.

Amber has overseen dozens of studies and currently manages the day-to-day implementation of several capacity building evaluations in the equitable housing, economic security, and civic engagement space. She specializes in mapping pathways and determining metrics with an equity lens, and then designing strategies and training partners to implement those pathways.

 

At Community Science, she manages the evaluation projects that focus on racial equity in areas leadership, childhood education, health, and economic security. She brings experience from being a community health practitioner focusing on health education, community planning, place-making strategies, and community engagement and planning. Notable work includes serving as the Director of the Race, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiative (REDI) at NeighborWorks America.

 

In her free time, Amber enjoys boxing, playing soccer, watching horror films, and spending time lost in the mountains with her partner and her fluffy chow chow.

 

Education

  • Ph.D., Built Environment, Sustainable Systems and Prototype Studies, University of Washington
  • M.P.H., Environmental and Occupational Health, Drexel University
  • B.S., Microbiology with minor in Chemistry, California State University

Expertise

  • Childhood Education
  • Economic Security
  • Health Equity
  • Leadership Development
  • Organizational Inclusion and Racial Equity Strategies

Notable Publications and Presentations

  • Gharipour, Mohammad & Trout, Amber. (2020). Curriculum development in health and the built environment: creating a multidisciplinary platform to enhance knowledge and engagement. Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research. ahead-of-print. 10.1108/ARCH-09-2019-0212.
  • Bennett DH, Fisk W, Apte MG, Wu X, Trout A, Faulkner D, Sullivan D. (2012) Ventilation, temperature, and HVAC characteristics in small and medium commercial buildings in California. Indoor Air, 22(4):309-20. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0668.2012.00767.x.
  • Bennett, DH, Apte, M, Wu, X, Trout, A, Faulkner, A, Maddalena, R, and Sullivan, D. (2011). Indoor Environmental Quality and Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Survey of Small and Medium Size Commercial Buildings: Field Study. Developed for the California Energy Commission.
  • Bennett, DH, Trout, A, Faulkner, D, and Apte, M. (2009). Pilot Report: Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in Small and Medium Commercial Buildings (SMCB) Phase II Field Study. Report Submitted to State of California Air Resources Board.
  • Dillon, JG, Mc Math, LM, and Trout, AL. (2009). Seasonal changes in bacterial diversity in the Salton Sea, Hydrobiologica. doi: 10.1007/s10750-009-9827-4.

Past Exemplary Projects

  • Project Manager, Institute for Nonprofit Practice, 2020. Manage the daily implementation of the Institute’s Organizational Learning Agenda, facilitate the development of a path of change, and provide action plan strategies and training.
  • Project Manager, Racial Equity Anchor Collaborative, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2019. Manage the Collaborative evaluation, composed of nine national racial justice organizations. The evaluation assesses the initiatives’ use of: messages in response to needs and issues of each racial and ethnic group; data-driven civic engagement strategies; and policy advocacy to advance racial equity at local and national levels via voter registration and mobilization of citizen participation in Census 2020.
  • Technical Assistance Evaluator, Study to Support John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Program Directors in Defining Target Equitable Revitalization Metrics, 2019. Contributed to review existing literature on downtown revitalization, equitable economic development, and public space activation, specifically with an equity lens. Worked to map out pathways of change and metrics for focus communities.
  • Evaluation Manager, Bush Foundation, 2019. Manage the implementation of the evaluation of the Change Network, a cohort style leadership program that started in 2017 with the goal of helping leaders in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota build their skills toward effectively leading systems change and doing so more equitably and inclusively.
  • Evaluation Manger, W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Place-based Effort in Mississippi and New Orleans, 2019. Provide technical assistance and other capacity building support to place-based efforts in Mississippi and New Orleans to impact early childhood education, employment equity, health equity, and economic outcomes using approaches that also promote racial equity and community and civic engagement.