Melissa Milton-Pung Email and Phone Number

Develop and maintain strong, cooperative partnerships with local, state, & national organizations, municipalities, and industry experts. Develop original articles/publications, present frequently. Foster a collaborative network of multi-disciplinary professionals. Find funding, create programs, and manage projects on place-based community economic development, adaptive reuse, and housing attainability. Track and influence policies/programs linked to the current and future prosperity of Michigan communities. Serve on the statewide Patronicity Review Board for Public Spaces, Community Places. Products: MI Funding HubFunded by the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Opportunity (LEO); key staff member for the development and launch of an AI-enabled grants portal which aggregates Federal and State grants listings. Oversee the delivery of monthly newsletters and webinars, direct the first training of its kind in the US focused on Justice40 communities. https://mifundinghub.org/ MI Housing Data PortalIdeated the project, landed combined project funding from Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) & Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), and executed the project with nationally-recognized HR&A Advisors. https://mihousingdata.org/Pattern Book Homes Project"This Used to be Normal: Pattern Book Homes for 21st Century Michigan" and "The Missing Middle Mixtape: More Pattern Book Homes for 21st Century Michigan." Project Lead and co-author; wrote narrative, managed architects, directed visual layout. https://mml.org/blog/2022/09/19/pattern-book-homes/Redevelopment Ready Communities (RRC) Predevelopment Assistance Program, in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). Built the program from the ground up (2017). Oversee technical assistance for 85+ communities statewide. https://www.miplace.org/rrc/

Working in the Civic Innovations Team, providing technical assistance to municipalities across Michigan. Special focus areas in Placemaking Initiatives, Redevelopment Ready Communities, and new program development.

Historic preservation advising and consulting services for selected rural projects such as: Local Historic District designations, National Register eligibility evaluations/listings, historic tax credit supporting documentation, and historic environmental reviews in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

Selected to join a small group of 8 US and 8 German professionals working in urban sustainable development to visit and study how exemplary government offices, nonprofits, and initiatives can inspire innovation in our home cities. One week in Düsseldorf, Mannheim, and Heidelberg, Germany in December 2019; one week in Atlanta and Detroit on the US side.

Part Time Lecturer/Adjunct Faculty in the Historic Preservation Graduate Program, Department of Geography & Geology. Provide course development assistance, field session oversight, student mentoring, and project management for ongoing survey and documentation projects. Courses taught incl GHPR 475: Architectural Nomenclature, GHPR 548: American Vernacular Architecture, and GHPR 531: American Cultural Landscapes with a spring field school component focused on the Wheeling National Heritage Area in Wheeling, WV.

Conducted community economic development through executive board and stakeholder engagement, project facilitation, annual reporting, and grant program administration. Project management for public-private collaboratives such as the Economic Development Coordinating Committee (EDCC), the Eastern Leaders Group (ELG), and the Washtenaw County Parks & Recreation Commission (WCPARC). Oversaw Michigan's only County-wide Historic District Commission, 13 local historic districts, and an award-winning heritage tourism series. Projects included urban & regional community planning, open space conservation easement partnerships, above-ground environmental review, local historic designations, and heritage tourism products.

Small historic preservation consulting firm. Fulfilled a contract for historic-architectural survey with the University of Michigan. Included archival research, contextual narrative, site evaluation, and photodocumentation for several building groups on main campus.

Consultant for Federal compliance surveys, transportation expansions (200 square miles in rural Indiana for I-69 expansion; Site-specific for WIS-DOT in Wisconsin), National Register nominations (Rosedale Park Neighborhood in Detroit), and local historic district designations (Downtown Jackson, Michigan).