Katie Van Dusen joined Kresge’s American Cities Program as a program officer in 2025. In their role, Katie supports partners and stewards grants that promote opportunity through effective and inclusive development practices in Fresno, one of Kresge’s three focus cities.

JD: The American Cities Program seeks to build relationships in the places where we make long term investments. What does meaningful partnership with local leaders, organizations, or residents look like from your perspective?

KVD: I enjoy the chance to get to know them as people and make some kind of human connection. You can really learn some incredible things about what brought our partners to this work and what their vision is for their community. And I think they appreciate and welcome the chance to talk about that, and it provides real insight into the work they are doing and where it is going. So much of the work of change is done by people and through relationships.

Beyond building those relationships, meaningful partnership includes close listening, really understanding what the most important priorities are for our partners, and then going back and understanding how best to align the resources we have at Kresge to help that vision become reality. Conversation gives you so much insight into where there are connections across different efforts in a given community. Beyond just investing dollars in their work (which is critically important!), we can then make introductions, find and deploy other resources, help align other stakeholders to put even more momentum behind our partners’ goals. There is a balance to not being obtrusive or directive and leveraging the resources of philanthropy to influence, enable, and support in a way that goes beyond just dollars.

JD: What should more people know about the work happening in Fresno?

KVD: Fresno is such an amazing city to get to know because it is where so many of our most pressing issues as a country are playing out. Heightened immigration enforcement, complex environmental challenges of climate change, tremendous wealth inequality, dueling visions of what an “equitable future” looks like – but also fierce civic leadership and engagement, lots of talented artists and culture makers, folks from many different backgrounds and identities finding a way to forge a shared community identity. I think keeping an eye on how Fresno navigates all of these dynamics will have lots of rich lessons for anyone who cares about equitable development.

I really appreciate the commitment Kresge has made in its place-based work across two particular axes: proximity and time. Even though I don’t live in Fresno, I’ve had the ability to visit several times in my role, get to know not only our partners but other civic and neighborhood leaders who have influence over Fresno’s development, get a sense of what it is like to walk in certain neighborhoods, eat and drink at local spots, talk directly with the people who live there – all of these create a depth that enables much more honest, and ultimately impactful, work.

The second axis of time is something that I think is distinctive, and exciting. To say we are here as a generational commitment, for a number of years, unlocks so much more possibility, and frankly, credibility in a place.

JD: Describe your first trip to Fresno. What were your impressions of the city and the community?

KVD: I was eager to get my feet on the ground and start getting to know the people. I heard that the leaders of organizations interested in community development were well networked and cared deeply about Fresno, which was absolutely true to my experience. There’s also an amazing reverence for their young people – almost everyone you talk to mentions investing and developing in Fresno’s young people as a top priority. It sounds trite to say it, but I was inspired by meeting our partners and seeing the dedication they had to making Fresno a better community for everyone who lived there.

Talking to folks reminded me of living in Cleveland – people are aware of the critiques of their city, and they acknowledge some truth to them, but they don’t let that prevent them from having a great sense of pride and ownership of the city’s future. There’s a real sense that there is so much to value and appreciate in Fresno but that there have been obstacles to it reaching its potential.

JD: What personal and professional experiences do you bring to the work you do at Kresge?

KVD: I started my career at a community foundation, which was a great place to get to know the sector, but at a digestible and immediate level. By working in the community where I grew up and went to school, I got a great education in how residents could advocate for their needs, and which institutions and power structures worked in concert (or not) with each other and those residents to meet those needs. But it left me with questions around why with so many smart, thoughtful, engaged people and plentiful resources so many problems would still persist, or even worsen.

After asking around, I settled on going to business school, where I hoped to learn more about the language of finance, how power operates, and how larger institutions make decisions that end up having significant impact on the well being of specific neighborhoods and communities. Ultimately the pursuit of answers to those questions sent me to work in management consulting, which was a great opportunity to see how the leaders of some of the largest organizations in the world operated.

It was also, frankly, really helpful training on breaking down large, ambiguous concepts into clear digestible pieces. I think that top down training and perspective paired with the more bottom-up experience from working at the community foundation has helped me figure out how to apply a more blended, tailored approach to my work. I believe the best answers often involve a blend of top down and bottom up. And woven into that is the creative practice that has been a fixture of my life since I can remember.

I went to music school and still perform from time to time, and I think keeping that part of my life and brain active has helped me keep a sense of creativity that comes in very handy when people and processes get stuck in a rut.

JD: What gives you hope when you think about the future of American cities?

KVD: This has been noted by so many others, but cities are such contested ground right now because they are physical manifestations of values that are under threat. They are places that require cooperation, interconnectedness, knowing and appreciating people in close proximity who might have very different experiences and identities from your own.

I’ve been so inspired by examples of people in cities working together to ensure their collective wellbeing – Minneapolis is of course an example, but you see it in Detroit, Chicago, L.A. – and of course in our focus cities (Fresno, Memphis, and New Orleans), where we have an even more intimate view. Seeing folks create support networks where they were needed, standing up for their neighbors in the face of violence, ensuring everyone can get what they need – those are fundamental parts of crisis response that are made possible by the bonds that people have forged living alongside one another. Seeing them show up so strongly gives me a ton of hope.

On top of that, from my experience, one of the most important elements that strengthens those bonds is incredibly strong artistic and cultural resources in a city. They’re the connective tissue of community, the grounds for being creative and imaginative together, and every time I’m able to experience a performance, a community gathering, an art show, I always leave with a deep sense of energy and excitement. Arts and culture will continue to connect, critique, and empower cities and their leaders, and that continuity gives me hope.