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Lauren A Mattern

Biography

Growing up attending inner-city magnet schools in Omaha, Lauren Mattern says she received more than just a great classroom education - she learned cities often do not work for all citizens. She witnessed both the promise of exceptional educational opportunities, and a sense of hopelessness that the inner city would ever be seen as a valuable part of the community. "As a child I failed to understand why citizens would abandon cities rather than try to make them better places to live," she says. "I know we can do better."

After graduating summa cum laude from Drake and earning Phi Beta Kappa honors, Lauren is pursuing a Master of City Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, with a concentration on transportation planning, environmental planning, and growth management. In the future, as an urban transportation planner, she wants to create transportation systems that move people in the most energy-efficient manner, while preserving what is special about a community, and bringing people from the suburbs back to the city center.

As a girl, Lauren spent many hours helping a physically handicapped neighbor and that experience helped her appreciate the physical obstacles that people with disabilities face each day. She continues to work with the disabled. Lauren says one of her career goals is to improve accessibility for handicapped and elderly persons in public, commercial, and residential spaces.

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