Allentza Michel is an artist, urban planner, policy advocate and researcher with a background in community organizing and human service. She has 19 years of diverse experience across community & economic development, education, food security, public health and transportation in local, national and international settings. Her experiences, both professional and societal, inform her current work in civic design, community and organizational development, and social equity. 

Growing up and working in underserved communities in Boston led Allentza to coalition building and community planning, with a particular focus on mobility and neighborhood revitalization. She is the founder and creative director of Powerful Pathways, a social practice and consultancy that works in urban planning, policy, and placekeeping using arts, technology and design thinking methods with a racial justice approach. She currently serves as Program Officer for Arts and Culture with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, where she is working with a national arts commission supporting research to promote arts education and the creative workforce development policy.

Allentza has held several volunteer community leadership roles, including founding and co-founding non-profit organizations and civic initiatives. She has served on many boards, civic groups and coalitions including the Network of Arts Administrators of Color Boston, and BAMS Fest, Boston’s premier music, arts and soul festival. Ms. Michel received a Master's in Public Policy.at Tufts University's Department of Urban & Environmental Planning and Policy and studied Civic Media and Art Practice at Emerson College. She has BAs in English and Social and Political Systems from Pine Manor College and holds a graduate certificate in Non-profit Management from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.