About Corinna J. Moebius, M.A.

Her career has been purposefully eclectic: Corinna is a cross-disciplinary thinker and an entrepreneurial risk taker. Nonetheless, her lifelong interest has been gathering places, from parks to barbershops, music venues to dance studios, cafes to cigar shops. Through research and observation, she's examined their role in revitalizing neighborhoods and business districts, preserving cultural traditions and a unique sense of place, and strengthening local networks of trust and reciprocity.

Corinna's current consulting work is centered on the economic development, preservation and revitalization of urban business districts and commercial corridors. A resident of Little Havana in Miami, Florida, she is the co-founder of the Little Havana Merchant Alliance, for which she serves on the Board of Directors. She is also an active member of the CNU (Congress of New Urbanism) Miami Chapter and is currently working on a series of educational, placemaking-related speaker series aimed at local real estate professionals.

Corinna began her independent consulting career (her firm was called Bordercross Communications) in 1997 in Internet marketing, website planning and online content development, and by 2003 was applying these skills as a public involvement consultant in the field of urban planning, primarily for commercial corridor planning and transportation projects. Her consulting clients have included planning agencies and firms, developers, small businesses, community development corporations, civic and neighborhood groups, and foundations.

She played a key role on the public involvement consulting team for the 2006 Revision of the DC Comprehensive Plan. In 2010, her profile was included in Becoming an Urban Planner: A Guide to Careers in Urban Planning (Wiley & Sons).

In 2012, Corinna launched an extensive online guide to her own Miami neighborhood of Little Havana (LittleHavanaGuide.com). The guide includes more than 100 of her original articles about local arts, culture, small businesses, etc.

Corinna leads tours of Little Havana and also works as a facilitator of community-building activities at events such as the Greater Everglades Community Food Summit. She has led numerous workshops on topics ranging from asset-based community development to preserving community gathering places; she has also taught classes on Internet marketing and website planning.

experience & accomplishments

consulting ~ planning ~
community & economic development & revitalization

• Co-founder of the Little Havana Merchant Alliance, a new Chamber of Commerce for Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. Active in small business development and historic preservation efforts.
• Served as a public participation consultant for a number of city and neighborhood planning projects in Washington, DC, most significantly the 2006 revision of DC’s Comprehensive Plan. Developed core elements of an innovative public outreach and participation strategy, praised for its success at reaching and engaging diverse stakeholders.
• Proposed Washington, DC's first-ever roundtable on building Latino participation in local planning efforts. The roundtable included DC's Office of Planning, DC's Office on Latino Affairs, local Hispanic leaders and social workers working directly with the local Hispanic community.
• Co-founder and board member of a new merchant association, the Little Havana Merchant Alliance..
• Conducted a needs assessment and developed the first marketing and outreach strategy for the now thriving Gateway Arts District (in Prince George's County, MD).
• As Chair of the Economic Diversification Committee for the Adams Morgan Main Street in Washington, DC, launched the business district's first resource-sharing mixers for small business owners. Committee developed a business directory and a lunch campaign as part of efforts to help local business owners remain in the neighborhood despite gentrification.
  
• In 2000, for the DC firm Justice & Sustainability Associates, LLC, developed and managed Public Space Forum, a website that made it easy for local residents to find and discuss information on local planning projects.
• Published articles about public gathering places.

teaching/speaking/facilitation

• Designed and led large-group, community-building activities at the 2010 and 2011 local food summit for South Florida.
• Led workshops on Economic Permaculture at the 2010 EarthFest and as part of a training series offered by Earth Learning.
• Volunteer faculty member for the National Building Museum's Design Apprenticeship (DAP) program and CityVisions program for urban and minority youth.
• Facilitated multiple community dialogues using the World Cafe dialogue technique.
• Panelist at the 2010 American Planners' Association conference (on careers in urban planning) and numerous other conferences nationwide.
• Developed and taught the first-ever course on strategic website planning (and a course on Internet marketing) for Georgetown University's Center for Continuing & Professional Education. One of the center's most highly rated instructors.
• Conducted trainings on social media, writing for the web, Internet marketing and website strategies for clients including the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the Women's Business Center, LegalArt, the Women's Information Network and the U.S. Department of Justice.

tourism & events

• Designed, developed and managed a series of catalytic Imagine Miami Changemaker Conferences, attended by locals who have since proven to be some of South Florida's most innovative and influential community leaders. Each conference built upon the previous one; each focused on a particular capacity-building tools as well as a cross-cutting local issue. One conference focused on placemaking and included workshops by Project for Public Spaces and PolicyLink.
• Designed, developed and launched a Summit on Arts, Culture & Civic Engagement, which Americans for the Arts (Animating Democracy) called "groundbreaking" and praised for having "opened many doors of opportunity to grow a strong network that will foster new collaborations …” See a video of testimonials about the summit.
  
• Planned, directed and coordinated Washington, DC's largest and most popular neighborhood festival (Adams Morgan Day), a celebration of the city's most diverse neighborhood. Many local stakeholders said it was one of the best years of the festival (2005) in more than a decade. Carefully designed the festival layout to highlight local businesses and not just vendors; chose vendors that complemented vs. competed with local businesses. See photos of the festival.
  
  Also proposed and launched what is now a festival highlight: the Dance Plaza (dance demos and workshops representative of the neighborhood's diversity). "The word on the street is that this was one of the real highlights of the day," said the local newspaper. Read articles about the Plaza: "Adams Morgan Day Scores Big With Innovative Dance Plaza" (pdf) and "Adams Morgan Community Dances Through Diversity."
• As the former Executive Director of Little Havana's popular monthly Viernes Culturales arts and culture festival (a major attraction) increased the number of artist vendors by more than 50% and improved the layout of artists/vendors.
• Co-produced the nation's first Internet-related symposium aimed at African-Americans, held at Howard University in 1997. The symposium focused not only on digital divide issues but also on the need for online content written by and for the African Diaspora.
• Lead tours of Little Havana for conference attendees, including (but not limited to): a conference for international journalists (through the French-American Foundation); the WeMedia conference of media and Internet entrepreneurs; a national LISC conference for community development professionals; funders of community health projects nationwide.
• Lead unique walking tours of Little Havana. See LittleHavanaGuide.com.
• Led a tour of South Florida farms using sustainable agricultural practices as part of the 2011 Greater Everglades Community Food Summit.

writing/resources/guides

• Designed and have written all the content (nearly 100 articles) for LittleHavanaGuide.com.
• Developed and wrote the curriculum for -- and helped manage -- the pilot of a national youth civic engagement program, Youth Visions for Stronger Neighborhoods. Youth in after-school programs identified community assets and challenges, which they documented using multimedia; they then proposed strategies for transforming their neighborhood. See two of the videos created by participating youth, For Sale: The Changing Face of Southeast Baltimore and Dove Spring Teens: Truth vs. Rumors" (Austin, TX).
• Created new guides to civic engagement and community involvement in South Florida, including an Advocacy Toolkit and a Get Involved in Your Community - Ideas Toolkit.
• Produced a documentary on local food systems.
• Researcher and cartographer for the Historical Atlas of Massachusetts.
• Managing Editor for a Best of the Web directory in 1996.

other/eclectic

• Former Director of Communications at an early DotCom aimed at women professionals and business owners.
• Former Director of Interactive Media for an international youth news organization (now Children's PressLine).
• Opened and ran an EcoCultural Center in Little Havana which sold Miami visitor guides, books about Miami, arts by Miamians and products (e.g., honey, candles, soap) made by Miamians. Though the venture did not last (not enough capital), it led to a greater awareness of the needs of local business owners and visitors and was written about in both El Nuevo Herald and The Miami Herald.
• Graduate of the Summer Institute for Arts Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
• Received a Certificate in Visionary Leadership from the Center for Visionary Leadership.
• Certified in Permaculture Design through The Permaculture Guild.
• Former Vice Chair of Miami-Dade Sister Cities and board member of the Latin American Folk Institute
• Afro-Cuban dance is a favorite hobby of Corinna's. She founded and manages an international online community, AfroCubanDance.com (with nearly 350 members from more than 30 different countries) and the Facebook group We Love Afro-Cuban Dance (with more than 550 members).
• Production Assistant (Locations) for Magic City, a TV drama about Miami in the late 1950s, and in Post-Production for a 1986 documentary about a Serbian village first telecast in 1986 on Yugoslav networks and subsequently incorporated into Serbian secondary school curriculum.

education

• M.A in Communication Studies, with Distinction, at California State University, Northridge (1996). Focused on the importance of place to identity, and on the significance of gathering places for marginalized groups. Thesis examined the role of a key campus gathering place for students of African descent and is cited in academic journals and books. Earned the university's Spirit of Educational Equity Award in recognition for this scholarship.
• Designed undergraduate degree in Communications & Anthropology (minor in Geography) at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, through its Bachelor's Degree with Individual Concentration.
• Attended numerous conferences and trainings as a part of continuing education:
  
  
  • Media Learning Seminar: Information Needs of Communities in Democracy (Miami, 2011)
  • History of Public Space in the U.S. (audited graduate level History course at the University of Miami; received an A on every paper) (Miami, 2009).
  • South Florida Mapping Training (Miami, 2009)
  • Imagine Miami Changemaker Conference (Miami, 2008-2010): Conference designer, organizer and MC. Facilitated World Cafe community dialogues. Led workshops on asset-based community development.
  • We Media (Miami, 2007-2009): A conference for catalysts, analysts, explorers and architects of digital media. Won the 2008 Pitch-It Contest.
  • Arts, Culture & Civic Engagement (Miami, 2007): Organized the conference.
  • National Main Streets Conference (Baltimore, MD, 2006)
  • Urban Forum 2006: Revitalizing Urban Business Districts (LISC Center for Commercial Revitalization) (Miami, 2006): Led a tour of Little Havana for conference participants and served on a panel on diversifying funding sources.
  • Cultivating Creative Communities: Local Solutions, Global Success (Charlotte, NC, 2006): Panelist for workshop on animating business districts with festivals and events.
  • Civic Tourism (Arizona, 2006)
  • Summer Institute in Arts Management (Amherst, MA, 2005)
  • reSTORE DC/DC Main Streets: Economic Restructuring Fundamentals (DC, 2005)
  • Economic Restructuring 101 (Main Street) (DC, 2005)
  • Main Street Training (National Trust for Historic Preservation) (DC, 2005)
  • Great Places, Great Debates: Historic Sites and Civic Engagement (NYC, 2004);
  • The Politics of Public Space (NYC, 2002), a conference for academics, researchers and activists.
  • Communities of Tomorrow Summit II: A National Dialogue on Community Governance, Development, Design and Planning (invitation-only) (DC, 2002), a summit for leaders from a variety of fields to discuss how demographic and design trends will affect existing and future communities.
  • Neighborhoods USA Conference on Neighborhood Concerns (Houston, 2002; Pittsburgh, 2001), a conference for community organizers nationwide, as well as urban planners and policymakers. Led a workshop on community gathering places (2002) and another on "taking back your park" (2001).
  • National Community Reinvestment Coalition Annual Conference (2002): served on a panel on using the Internet as a public outreach tool.
  • A City of Neighborhoods: Bridging School and Community (DC, 2002)
  • Equitable Development Forum (DC, 2002)
  • Cutting Edge Tools to Strengthen Neighborhoods and Connect Communities (DC, 2002), a forum on advanced information systems for use by community organizers, urban planners and policymakers.
  • Diversity in Cyberspace (Maryland, 2000)
  • Online Journalism: A Medium in Motion (Los Angeles, CA, 2000)
  • Networks for People (DC, 1998, 1999), a conference on community technology issues.
  • Connecting All Americans for the 21st Century (DC, 1998), one of the first national conferences to address digital divide concerns.