Ashley Williams Clark is the Vice President of Detroit Future City (DFC) and the Director of the Center for Equity, Engagement and Research at Detroit Future City (DFC). In this role, Ashley will help shape programming, integrate an equity lens throughout the organization, and grow the Center for Equity, Engagement, and Research.

Ashley has extensive experience in public policy research and analysis, community engagement, program development, and project management. Prior to joining DFC, Ashley worked for the City of Detroit’s Housing and Revitalization Department on the public-private partnerships team. She also served as the director of outreach and strategic partnerships at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte Urban Institute, a non-partisan, applied research and community outreach institute. While at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, Ashley also managed an integrated data system and led the Institute’s research and community engagement initiatives that addressed affordable housing and homelessness. Ashley also worked in Washington D.C. at the Urban Institute as a research associate and as the director of operations for the Urban Institute Academy for Public Policy Analysis and Research (now known as The Policy Academies).

For her work, Ashley was recognized with Corp!’s Most Valuable Professional Award, UNC Charlotte’s award for Employee of the Year for Community and Public Service, and nominated for the State of North Carolina Governor’s Awards for Excellence. Her research on evictions in Mecklenburg County earned the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership G. Thomas Kingsley Impact award.

Ashley has a master’s degree in city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in urban studies from Washington University in St. Louis.