Kayla Jaffe

Senior Analyst

Kayla is at the forefront of creating equitable and just urban communities, working with a variety clients to develop policies and programs that support the country’s changing demographics. She supports HR&A’s Inclusive Cities practice, specializing in strategic planning and equitable governance.

Leveraging her journalism background, Kayla combines stakeholder engagement with research to develop plans that translate a client’s vision into actionable recommendations. She facilitates culture change across organizations, leading workshops and co-creating initiatives with clients in the public and nonprofit sectors. Recent work includes supporting Destination Crenshaw in developing a reparative framework to address longstanding displacement concerns in a historically Black community. Additionally, I worked to develop a strategic plan for the City of West Lafayette that balances town-gown relationships with anticipated population growth. We also created an opportunity assessment framework for the City of Raleigh Museum to support expanded operations and long-term planning.

Prior to joining HR&A, Kayla conducted field interviews throughout the Midwest and traveled on a research grant to eastern Germany to study transnational socioeconomic policy implementation in declining industrial centers. Kayla also analyzed historical and economic trends of eminent domain and highway development in Dallas as an Engaged Learning Fellow at Southern Methodist University.