Ashley Richards is a City Planner with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, specifically working in north Philadelphia as the North District Community Planner. In addition to comprehensive planning and district plan management, Ashley is also the co-chair of the Food Policy Advisory Council’s (FPAC) Urban Agriculture Sub-Committee, which is about to embark upon a strategic plan for urban agriculture within the city. Ashley’s work embodies the central beliefs that to create an equitable and participatory process, transformative policy is required to make planning benefit everyone and that equity doesn’t end at access. Prior to working for the Commission, Ashley worked for the Philadelphia Water Department’s Office of Watersheds as an Environmental Planner. Ashley began a planning career in 2008, working as a Sustainable Communities Coordinator in Bronx, NY, facilitating the creation of an urban farm cooperative led by Black and Latinx residents. Ashley earned a Master’s Degree from the University of Pennsylvania in City and Regional Planning, with a concentration in community and economic development. Some of Ashley’s passions are working as a teaching artist with youth in social justice arts and media programming, writing Afrofuturist Science-Fiction, and community gardening.