Vikrant Sood Email & Phone Number

Berkeley, Ca, Us

Oakland, California, United States

San Francisco Bay Area

I am working with agency leadership to develop and implement a new Regional Economic Development Program that will focus on creating middle-wage jobs for workers without a college degree, revitalizing and transforming underutilized industrial land in disadvantaged communities into advanced manufacturing clusters that accelerate the clean energy transition and transportation electrification, and diversifying the regional economy to create more stable revenues for local governments. The program will establish a U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) recognized Economic Development District (EDD), update the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), develop the region’s first coordinated Manufacturing, Industrial Lands and Logistics Strategy (MILLS), coordinate these efforts with the state-funded California Jobs First (CJF) process, and launch demonstration projects such as Community Micro Grids for Industrial Uses to address power issues with the local utility, and a Revolving Loan Fund for minority contractors who work on residential decarbonization in low-income communities. The program will also provide technical assistance and training to sub-regions such as the Northern Waterfront in Contra Costa County and other low-resource communities. All these efforts will be funded in part or entirely with grant funds.

San Francisco Bay Area

I'm leading the development of a Data Strategy for the organization. The need for better data to inform public policy has been a priority for policy-makers, but without a systemized approach to how an organization collects, manages, utilizes and shares data, especially at the regional level, the approach thus far has been ad hoc, uncoordinated and largely ineffective. With my background in facilitation, engagement, strategic planning and organizational development, I'm leading this work for the Data/ Visualization Team. We hope to complete this work by fall 2022.

San Francisco Bay Area

Following the success of a Regional Housing Forum that I helped organize, MTC launched CASA, or the Committee to House the Bay Area, a multi-stakeholder, collaborative, region-wide housing initiative to find consensus around meaningful solutions to the region's chronic housing affordability and displacement challenges. At the end of a two-year process, CASA adopted a Compact, which included ten strategies, including the need to establish the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) and raise more than $10 billion in new revenue region-wide to implement protection, preservation, and production strategies.

Oakland, California, United States

As the agency’s equity manager, I led the development of the Equity, Title VI, and Environmental Justice Assessment for Plan Bay Area (PBA) and the regional Transportation Investment Plan (TIP). I also helped develop and implement the Community-Based Transportation Planning (CBTP) program, which provides grants to low-income communities to identify and prioritize access and mobility solutions in their communities; a $3 million Regional Shared Use Mobility Pilot, funded in part by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) that set up shared-use mobility hubs in affordable housing properties for transportation-disadvantaged populations; the Transit and Paratransit Mobility Study, funded in part by Caltrans; and the Northern California Mega-Region Goods Movement Study, also funded in part by Caltrans, which assessed opportunities to expand economic opportunities in the goods movement sector and reduce its impacts on vulnerable communities and the environment.

Oakland

I was recruited by MTC/ABAG in 2012 to run the Bay Area Regional Prosperity Plan (RPP) project, a $5 million program funded in part by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of a national initiative of the Obama Administration to promote regional solutions to achieve sustainable development, greenhouse gas reduction, affordable housing production and preservation near transit and jobs, neighborhood stabilization in disadvantaged communities where lower-income residents are at risk of displacement, and economic mobility and opportunity for lower-wage workers.The RPP provided over $3 million in grants for innovative pilot projects and technical studies led by grass-roots organizations and academic institutions, including the Fair Housing and Equity Assessment (FHEA), the Urban Displacement Project at UC Berkeley, the Jobs-Housing Fit for Low-Income Workers in Silicon Valley, and the Economic Prosperity Strategy. I direct all aspects of the project, including program design and management, contracting, accounting and reporting, technical analysis, staff development, policy development, and capacity-building.Almost all of MTC's recent housing initiatives, including CASA, the Preservation Pilot, the Housing Incentive Pool, and the regional technical assistance program came out of the groundwork laid by the Prosperity Program. As the Program Manager, I staffed a Steering Committee and three technical work groups (one each for housing, economic prosperity, and equity), oversaw research and analysis, managed a grant program that funded over 50 different pilot projects over four rounds of funding, and managed the region-wide projects such as the Economic Prosperity Project.

San Diego

In 2010, I was invited by the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) and SANDAG to help establish a new program at the regional agency focused on strengthening the link between public health outcomes and the design of the built environment. It was the first program of its kind in the nation, funded in part through a $13 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC), as part of a national campaign by the Obama Administration to improve health outcomes. The program supported data collection and research, policy development, technical assistance, and capacity-building initiatives to address health disparities and inequities in the San Diego region. In addition, the program funded over two dozen innovative pilot projects through planning grants. The program engaged multiple stakeholders, including 19 local jurisdictions, 19 tribal governments, more than a dozen schools and school districts, state agencies, numerous community-based organizations, education institutions, and the air district to implement the pilot projects.

San Francisco Bay Area

As a director at a leading urban design and planning firm in the Bay Area noted for integrated, inclusive, and participatory planning, I managed a division that focused on local and regional planning, urban design, transit-oriented development (TOD), active transportation, streetscape design, environmental sustainability, green buildings/infrastructure, public health, and climate resiliency. I led marketing, business development, staffing and budgeting, oversight, staff development, and long-term visioning for the division. I led a team of motivated leaders who excelled in project management, research, policy development, process planning, and community and stakeholder engagement.

Berkeley, California, United States

As a Graduate Student Researcher, I worked on the California and Central Valley Growth Study, funded by the California Department of Transportation.

Oakland, California, United States

I assembled a policy and implementation toolkit to promote integrated land use and transportation planning, identify new funding and financing mechanisms, and develop a regulatory framework. The study was funded by Caltrans.

New Delhi, Delhi, India

I led a range of architecture and urban design projects for one of the leading design and planning firms in New Delhi, India. During my time at TEAM, I developed a specialization in TOD, sustainable urban infrastructure, green building design, affordable housing, public transit, conservation, and historic preservation.

Master Of City And Regional Planning, Urban Planning

I specialized in land use, housing, transportation, and environmental policy and planning, with significant coursework in land use law.

Bachelor Of Architecture, Architecture

Graduated with Honors and Gold Medal Thesis on Sustainable Building Technologies Dissertation on Historic Preservation