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Book our Found Ryan Saunders (Learn more about Ryan here) or we can procure experts that meet your needs

Please review What we do section, Who we are, Section about Ryan Saunders and Policy Advocacy sections of this website to get more information as to topics or strategies that we are actively engaged in or support.

Below is a bit more information into my mindset and some topics that I can speak to or find other speakers to bring a viewpoint for.

Local Issues:

My perspective

I recognize that cities and real estate are interconnected.

A city's vitality—its livability, job growth, and appeal—drives demand for new businesses and development.

I approach projects from both the city and real estate perspectives, adding value through new or renovated buildings, attracting businesses, and enhancing neighborhoods with better zoning, pedestrian-friendly improvements (sidewalks, bike lanes, transit), and public space activations that strengthen community identity.

For neighborhood associations, business organizations, and nonprofits, I offer Civic Literacy Workshops, help navigate zoning changes, and advocate for pedestrian and civic improvements.

Let me provide some examples through the “If I were mayor” lens, let’s take my previous home before moving to Austin.

If I were mayor in a city like Greensboro, NC

I would create an organization to develop

1. Venture capital fund/Industry based incubator

2. Real estate investment fund/master plan project

3. Incubator for events, experience based companies and place activation projects

4. Apply competition to non profit funding for groups in the arts as well as other social issues to make sure new ideas were developed and supported whether it was from a longstanding non profit or a new organization

In Greensboro, I operated a transit demonstration project on Friday nights-renting a double decker bus running from 8 pm-2 am between bar districts.

This got me involved with TAP (Transit Alliance of the Piedmont) which through other advocacy projects, caught the interest of a couple that led efforts in Participatory Budgeting to get a night bus trolley approved which is now in its 2nd year operating in Downtown Greensboro.

I am now (in Austin) working with a running friend to apply for a grant through Movability (a non profit/membership organization that works with employers to incentivize companies to get their employees to public transit.

We developed the concept for a “Run the Bus” run club which gets runners on a public bus to a starting point based on distance and they then run back 2-4 miles.

Exposing choice riders to public buses and using social media to educate about some of the benefits of public transit such as Guaranteed ride home where if you use public transit Capmetro will reimburse you for an uber up to 7 times a year in the event of an emergency if you need to get home or to a destination quickly and rode transit to work.

Also, this could be involving encouraging walkability improvements in your neighborhood, small scale project programs, grant programs

I think taking small scale project programs and grant programs out of city control and put into the hands of more localized organizations such as a neighborhood association (we have contact teams in Austin-which are much more formalized neighborhood associations which serve a role in advising their district city council member on issues that directly impact the neighborhood) would be much more effective and allow more people to access them.

Staffing issues for these types of programs in Austin make it nearly impossible to access these funds-with two years or longer backlog as well as well as bureaucratic guidelines/red tape