Our coalition is a group of local residents who care deeply about our community and advocate on its behalf. We have a stellar group of supporters, community representatives, and volunteers! If you like our vision and support our coalition, please sign up to be listed on this page too.
Our Supporters
Coalition Supporters
Abby Carter
Annette Collins
Aaron Paden
Barry Shalinsky
Bette Booth
Bill Steele
Bonnie Black
Brittany Budd
Carol Rasor
Casey Emmerich
Catherine Bolton
Christin Bowman
ChrisTopher Niles Enneking
Cynthia Eubanks
David Baston
George Pisani
Greg Smith
Hillary Spratt
Iris Craver
John Brewer
John Martin
Josh Millstein
Julie Jones
Kalen Ledbetter
Katie Harpstrite
Katie Winter
Kent Williams
Kimberly Comstock
KT Walsh
Lana Haas
Lane Eisenbart
Laura Zimney
Margaret Holdeman
Marta Swartz
Melanie Galyon
Melea Alexander
Mike Rundle
Neela Sandal
Patrick Suzeau
Peggi Engelhart
Phil Collison
Patrick Wilbur
Phil Engelhart
Richard Heckler
Sara Houk
Sarah Jane Russell
Shannon Gorres
Siel Studer
Stan Jones
Stephen Stevenson
Steve Evans
Steven Maynard-Moody
Sula Teller
Susan Elkins
Susan Hadl
Suzanne Hampton
Teri Grunthaner
Tim Forcade
Valerie Renault
Community Representatives
Mandy Enfield, University Place Neighborhood Association, President
Melinda Ball, Save the Wakarusa River Valley
Michael Almon, Brookcreek Neighborhood Association, President
Coalition Volunteers
Bonnie Johnson, PhD, FAICP is a professor at KU. She teaches planning history, theory, and politics. Her research focuses on ethics and planning practice. Before academia, she was a planner for 8 years. At the City of Liberty, Missouri, she was project manager for Liberty’s “Blueprint for Liberty: Land Use Plan” which was awarded the American Planning Association’s (APA) “Outstanding Planning Award”. She is the Professional Development Officer for the Kansas Chapter of APA, served on the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) Ethics Committee, is an inductee of the AICP College of Fellows, and is on the Planning Accreditation Board.
Holly Krebs is the lead organizer for our coalition. She is a long-time Lawrencian who runs a health care collective and is a mom of three. She has served on the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission and has organized several local advocacy campaigns. Holly worked as a policy research assistant at KU and was accepted to the top four public policy graduate programs in the U.S. before changing career paths to become a health care practitioner 20 years ago. Holly thanks everyone who participates in our coalition’s vision of collaborative decision-making in our wonderful community.
Jill Krebs is retired and volunteers as the editor of our coalition's official publications. She previously held administrative positions with KU Libraries and KU's Paleontological Institute, where she assisted in the editing of several volumes of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology and was the developer and manager of the Paleobank Database. She was later Collections Manager for Invertebrate Paleontology for the Natural History Museum. She also started the Yoga Center of Lawrence and served as its co-owner and co-director for 17 years.
Sara Taliaferro runs CSC Engagement Services, LLC. She also teaches civic engagement through the Public Management Center at the University of Kansas. Sara holds a Masters of Public Administration with certification in public policy, particularly housing and environmental sustainability, through the KU School of Public Affairs and Administration. Sara trained through IAP2, Mid America Regional Council, Kansas Leadership Center, and the Pepperdine School of Public Policy/Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership.
How We Came to Be
In the fall of 2024, Holly Krebs organized an advocacy campaign to retain the size of our outdoor swimming pool. Her research demonstrated that the City of Lawrence had proposed a pool renovation that did not align with our citizens’ requests and did not meet our City’s Strategic Plan commitments to our community.
Many other engaged activists shared similar experiences with Holly, which led her to believe that our community could benefit from improved governmental processes and relationships. So she invited local community advocates to meet and collaboratively strategize how to improve the relationship between our local government and its residents.
We are working to bring transparency to recurrent issues residents experience and to advocate for improvements. Our coalition models collaboration in our work together, and we’re excited about what a coordinated group of dedicated, thoughtful, knowledgeable residents can do to support our community’s governance.