Meet the Team

Jackie Burton

Boulder, Colorado

Strategic thinker and leader with a background in international and domestic philanthropy, with over a decade of experience working for some of the world’s leading social justice philanthropies.

Experienced grantmaker and organizational development professional with expertise in disaster recovery, philanthropic practice, and housing and development.

Jackie spent nearly eight years at Ford Foundation where she stewarded over $61 million in international and domestic grants, focusing on housing, land use, and equitable disaster recovery, and doing place-based grant-making in New Orleans, across Louisiana, and in Puerto Rico.

She most recently served as staff of the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation as the Manager of Giving Strategies for Organizing Resilience. She has a Master’s in Urban Planning from NYU Wagner.

Chrishelle Palay

Houston, Texas

Dedicated strategist with extensive disaster recovery and housing policy expertise. Forward and out-of the box thinking to understand and address complex challenges in housing and community development.

Committed to fostering equitable outcomes through inclusive planning and coalition building efforts. Proficient in navigating political landscapes. Skilled in building and nurturing relationships with diverse partners.

Solid architecture and urban planning background. Chrishelle is the founding executive director of HOME Coalition, where she spearheaded comprehensive disaster recovery advocacy, focusing on the most vulnerable communities.

With a passion for community empowerment, she also co-produced and co-hosted the podcast series But Next Time, which highlights powerful stories of community-led disaster prevention and recovery.

Justin Scheid

New York, New York

Innovative and entrepreneurial leader with experience managing teams in the public, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors to implement strategy, programs, fundraising, partnerships, and investments for positive social impact. 

Justin served as HUD’s New Jersey Field Office Director and as Director of Equity and Engagement for HUD’s field operations, and Deputy Director of the Office for International and Philanthropic Innovation.  He also served as Director of Development and Network Engagement at Hispanics in Philanthropy and in government relations roles for two major research universities, a nonprofit, and a corporation.

Justin has deep experience strategizing, communicating, convening, and tackling issues related to federal, state, and local funding and policies and programs related to climate change, disaster resilience and response, housing and community development, and social justice and equity.