Jackie has over 20 years of experience in the planning field, all of her tenure at SRPEDD. Her extensive time at SRPEDD has allowed her to experience many aspects of planning from bus riding and traffic counting to safety analysis, corridor studies, bicycle and pedestrian planning, project management and TIP Development. Ms. Jones especially enjoys finding context sensitive, innovative, and practical solutions for all modes.
Jackie’s background in Civil Engineering affords a high level of technicality to SRPEDD’s planning studies. As a proud owner of an AICP certification, Ms. Jones employs a wide background of planning knowledge and high ethical standards.
Ms. Jones is a life-long resident of Southeastern Massachusetts and enjoys highlighting many of the hidden jewels of the region. She can often be found out enjoying the region, generally by bicycle.
Jennifer Chaves, Principal Transportation Planner, joined SRPEDD in 2004. Her work is primarily part of the transit department where she works on projects and GIS mapping for the regional transit authorities. She also does GIS mapping for the Transportation Department at SRPEDD.
Maria was born and partially raised in Detroit where she earned her B.A. in Political Science from Wayne State University. While at Wayne State, Maria relied on a two-hour bus commute to get to class. Traveling the Detroit via public transit opened her eyes to the beauty of navigating the city off the freeway and helped her gain a deep appreciation for the provision of all public services. This experience pushed her to pursue a minor in Urban Sustainability to understand how political systems influence the planning process.
Through her education and internship roles, Maria cultivated meaningful planning skills in project development, effective content creation, research, and data analysis. After graduating, Maria relocated to Providence. She worked as a political organizer and later as the constituent manager for the Rhode Island Department of State. In both these roles, Maria learned the importance of communicating convoluted policies and civic processes in plain language to encourage civic participation among diverse sets of communities.
Maria continues to be motivated by the communities she serves and is excited to work with SRPEDD and the communities of Southeastern Massachusetts to facilitate engaging conversations around planning processes.
Amber joined SRPEDD in 2022 as a Senior Planner. Her diverse background includes urban planning, environmental policy, public health, and climate change and adaptation, which fueled her passion for reinventing how human-centered urban planning can improve day to day life in communities affected by cumulative impacts. Her skills in GIS and data analysis, grant writing, and public relations are supportive planning tools that Amber uses to advocate for inclusive urban and environmental public policies. She understands – and validates – how past structural injustices of urban environmental policy and planning have negative generational impacts, both physiological and socioeconomic, on people and communities; therefore, in order to build equitable neighborhoods and resilient, prosperous societies, comprehensive urban planning is paramount. Amber works alongside planners, fellow policymakers, and the public to build resilient, smarter, equitable, and just communities where individuals and groups thrive in mind, body, and spirit for generations to come.
Before joining SRPEDD, Amber has worked in multiple public service positions at the federal, state, and local levels, including nursing (LPN), an intern for the City of Medford in the Planning, Development, and Sustainability Department, a Legal Technician at the EPA Office of Regional Counsel in Chicago, IL, and an active FEMA reservist in External Affairs. She currently holds a BA in Public Policy Affairs from DePaul University in Chicago, IL, and is a candidate for a master’s degree (Summer 2022) in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University in Medford, MA.
Andrea joined SRPEDD in 2023 as Transportation Outreach Coordinator. She supports outreach with local officials, advocacy groups, and residents for various transportation planning activities, including Southeastern Massachusetts’ Moving Forward 2050 Regional Transportation Plan, Coordinated Human Services Transportation Plan, Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Plans, and corridor studies.
Andrea was born and raised in Taunton, MA. While living in the metro Boston area for 7 years without a car, Andrea relied heavily on public transportation and walking and experienced firsthand some of the barriers and dangers of incomplete streets and transportation services. Andrea brings several years of interdisciplinary experience serving underrepresented and underserved communities, including working class immigrant and BIPOC communities. Before joining SRPEDD, she served in several community development roles, including Development Associate and volunteer English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher at The Welcome Project, Policy Intern for Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards, and workforce development intern at the Somerville Community Corporation. Andrea understands how historic systemic inequities and land use practices have shaped communities and has experience advocating for safe and complete streets and economic opportunity with environmental justice communities in Greater Boston. Her Master’s research focused on fair housing and inclusive real estate development practices.
In her roles at community-based organizations, she has prioritized trust- and relationship- building with diverse constituents and government stakeholders. She has also witnessed how the availability and accessibility of planning information for all community members is crucial to their awareness, participation, and advocacy in decision-making that improves their quality of life. Andrea looks forward to connecting with SRPEDD’s distinct communities to support technical assistance that advances safe, reliable, healthy, and affordable transportation infrastructure for all road users and helps connect all people with employment, living necessities, the natural environment and each other.
Andrea speaks Portuguese and French. She holds a B.A. in Political Science/International Studies and Foreign Languages from Stonehill College and an M.A. in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University.
D. Austin Horowitz joined SRPEDD in 2023 as the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) project coordinator, working with regional stakeholders to develop the region’s Safety Action Plan. The Action Plan will provide concrete steps towards achieving Vision Zero by leveraging the safe systems approach, with the goal of developing a traffic safety culture to guide all road users into making safe choices in order to keep everyone safe.
Prior to SRPEDD, Austin worked for 16 years at ICF (formerly SH&E) as a consultant in the commercial aviation space, with an additional year at JetBlue Airways where he served as a revenue management analyst. He also previously served as Mansfield’s representative on the SRPEDD Commission, including a stint as SRPEDD Treasurer.
Austin holds a JD from Columbia Law School, an MS in Transportation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BS (Industrial Engineering) and BA (Psychology) from Rutgers University.
Luis de Oliveira has been working at SRPEDD for seven years. Luis received his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil/Environmental Engineering from the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Dartmouth. Shortly after joining SPREDD, Luis began overseeing the Traffic Count Program in addition to training staff and interns with required fieldwork and safety procedures. The Traffic Counting Program consists of Automatic Traffic Recorder Counts (ATRs), Turning Movement Counts (TMCs), and Park and Ride Lot Counts. Some of Luis’ responsibilities in the program include data collection, scheduling and coordinating with towns, cities, and the police departments, data processing, data input and management, and data analysis. Since his time at SRPEDD, Luis has also taken on the task of overseeing the Pavement Management Program and its data collection needs. Luis is also in the process of being certified to assist with the Drone Program at SRPEDD.
Luis has assisted multiple communities with the Community Technical Assistance Program, which includes data collection, site visits, analysis and the preparation of technical reports, which provides data and recommendations to the community. Some of the Community Technical Assistance that Luis has provided in the past includes signal warrants and stop sign warrants analysis, speed studies, truck analysis studies, and recommendations to make roads safer to travel. Luis is responsible for evaluating projects and presenting them at a committee to see if each is eligible for Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) funding. In addition, Luis has assisted staff with other data collection needs, Road Safety Audits (RSA), and various studies.
Luis integrates his skills in ArcMap, Road Manger, TraxPro, which has recently been replaced by STARNEXT, PetraPRO, Synchro, PC Warrants, Maptitude and other programs available in the office.
Lauren joins the SRPEDD team in 2022 as a recent graduate from Westfield State University. With a passion for the environment, Lauren focused her studies on understanding the complexity of promoting environmental sustainability within human systems. By double majoring in Regional Planning and Environmental Science during her time at Westfield, Lauren was able to cover a vast array of topics in the Environmental Planning field, including things such as: community planning, geographic information systems (GIS), land use and resource planning, restoration ecology, and data analysis. As a new graduate, Lauren hopes to assist in creating a sustainable future with the SRPEDD community for many generations to come.
Audrey joined the SRPEDD environmental team in March 2024. She is from Sarasota, Florida, a graduate of the University of Florida (Go Gators!) with a BS in Sustainability, and a graduate of the University of Texas-Austin (Hook ’em horns!) with MS Sustainable Design and MS Community & Regional Planning. As a transplant Floridian, her passion lives in coastal resilience, vulnerability and mitigation studies, environmental justice, and mapping of all kinds.
Her expertise includes working with ESRI’s ArcGIS, data analysis, community engagement, sustainable building practices, and regional/community policy. Audrey is a LEED Green Associate and an active member of the American Planning Association. She has worked at state-wide, rural/local, and educational institutions within Texas and Florida, with backgrounds in both public and non-profit sectors of grant management, energy auditing, LEED accreditations, comprehensive planning, redevelopment districts, and suitability analysis. She will continue to do work in Green Communities, hazard mitigation resiliency plans, and much more for SRPEDD.
While relocating to a much, much chillier Providence, Rhode Island for this position, she also enjoys rowing, hiking, collecting maps, and sewing.