Community Outreach Strategies for Historic Preservation Commissions and Boards

As Senior Director of Advocacy for the Los Angeles Conservancy, Adrian Scott Fine oversees the organization’s outreach, advocacy and response on key preservation issues within the greater Los Angeles area. This includes setting priorities, protecting historic places, developing initiatives, working with local governments and community stakeholders, and preparing responses to Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs). The Los Angeles Conservancy is the largest local nonprofit historic preservation organization in the country.
Previously he was with the National Trust for Historic Preservation as the Director of the Center for State and Local Policy, based in Washington, DC. From 2000 to 2009, Mr. Fine was the Director of the Northeast Field Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinating the programs and advocacy efforts in Philadelphia, serving the states of Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Adrian Scott Fine serves on the board of trustees for the California Preservation Foundation, is a founding member of Docomomo US/Southern California, and teaches at the University of Southern California Heritage Conservation Summer Program, the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions, and as part of the Getty Conservation Institute’s (GCI) Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative.

Lauren Hoogkamer is the Assistant Historic Preservation Officer for the City of Tacoma where she manages the outreach and education program (including social media), as well as staffs the Landmarks Preservation Commission. She holds an M.S. in Historic Preservation and an M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University, as well as a BA/BA in Print Journalism and History and a Minor in Business from the University of Southern California. She has received awards for journalism and poetry and has research published by the World Monuments Fund. Hoogkamer grew up in rural Lewis County, WA, but now lives in Tacoma with her husband, two sons, a dog, and a cat. As a historic preservation professional, she wants to ensure that our built environment represents and meets the needs of our diverse community. Her work is inspired by her experiences as a multicultural woman; she is Mexican, Trinidadian, Black, French, Chinese, East Indian, and a little bit of almost everything else.

Chris Skelly is the Director of Local Government Programs at the Massachusetts Historical Commission, where he assists local boards and commissions in community-wide historic preservation planning. He regularly holds regional educational workshops around the state of Massachusetts for local commissions, elected officials and the general public on historic preservation planning and local preservation ordinances. Prior to starting at the Massachusetts Historical Commission in 1997, he was a city planner for the city of Lowell, Massachusetts.
His degrees include a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the State University of New York- College of Environmental Science and Forestry and a Master in Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Massachusetts Historical Commission publications authored or co- authored by Mr. Skelly include the Preservation Planning Manual, Preservation through Bylaws and Ordinances, Establishing Local Historic Districts, A Guidebook for Historic District Commissions, two educational DVDs for local commissions and the five-year State Historic Preservation Plan. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the American Planning Association- Massachusetts Chapter.

In his own community, he has served on the regional school committee, municipal planning board and zoning revisions committee. He is currently an instructor in the Master of Science in Design and Historic Preservation Program at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, teaching Cultural Resource Management.