our story
Trust Neighborhoods, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization came out of intentional conversations with neighborhoods across the country. We heard again and again those pain points that we’ve created the MINT model to serve. We heard urgency as residents face and are experiencing displacement every day.
We created Trust Neighborhoods to be an entrepreneurial team focused on creating and iterating this model, and be a team that could be immediate short-term talent to support existing neighborhood-based organizations in creating their own MINTs.
This work builds on our own team’s experiences in affordable housing financing, public policy, corporate finance, as well as our personal experiences growing up and living across the country. We feel fortunate that we get to work on something so meaningful to our desire to contribute around the challenges that are important to us in climate change, justice, and community development. These help drive our commitment every day to working with neighborhood organizations and residents, to helping them control their own futures, to trusting our neighborhoods.
our team
david kemper - chief executive officer
David helped create the New York City’s Division of Capital Planning as its second employee, and helped build Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs from a four person team to forty while managing its housing and built environment work. He began his career as an urban fellow and project manager in affordable housing finance under New York City Mayors Bloomberg and de Blasio, managing a pipeline of LIHTC and HUD multifamily deals. He has a BA in history from Yale College, an MPP from the University of Oxford, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Kavya shankar - chief operating officer
Kavya has dedicated her career to creating more equitable communities. She has helped young people get more civically active through helping start The Obama Foundation and has supported access to economic opportunity through her policy work at the Obama White House. She started her career at McKinsey and Company, focused on local and state economic development. She has lived in a total of eight cities across the country, allowing her to learn about a diversity of neighborhoods. She has a BA in economics from Harvard College and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
jason dehaemers - chief Product officer
Jason has spent a decade in corporate finance, informing his conviction that creative financial solutions are critical to addressing many challenges in our housing system. He began his career in New York as an investment banking analyst at Credit Suisse prior to joining Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR. He then led corporate development at Tallgrass Energy and played a key role in the company’s two IPOs before founding Insphere Capital, an investment management firm. He has a BBA in finance and economics from the University of Notre Dame.
Katrina Chaves - Director of Real Estate
Katrina is committed to fostering high quality, sustainable, and equitable urban neighborhoods. She began her career with the City of Detroit's Housing and Revitalization Department structuring public private partnerships. Katrina built experience with the City of Toronto's Corporate Real Estate Management before returning to Detroit to serve as Deputy for the Group Executive of Planning, Housing & Development in the Mayor's Office. Katrina grew up in the Philippines and Canada before moving to the US for graduate studies. She has a BA in Political Science and Human Geography from the University of Alberta, and a Masters in Urban Planning and Certificate in Real Estate Development from the University of Michigan.
Travis Melvin - director of finance
Travis grew up in public housing, which shaped his commitment to understanding all aspects of real estate finance and its relation to disparate housing conditions. He began his career in mortgage-backed securities trading and investment banking at Wells Fargo, which led to portfolio management at Lone Star Funds and real estate development at Trammell Crow Company. He has developed an expertise in sourcing, structuring, managing, and executing complex transactions and is excited to apply these skills to purpose-driven work. Travis has a BS in Business Administration and Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MS in Management, with a Certificate in Public Management and Social Innovation from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
John Ezekowitz - strategic advisor
John has been focused on bringing the tools of data analytics, economics, and finance to the issues of eviction, affordable housing, and sustainable, equitable investment in neighborhoods. Through his work with the Kansas City Eviction Project, John has analyzed where evictions are being filed and documented the challenges tenants face in Missouri Housing Court. With the Kansas City Public Schools, he helped illustrate the link between housing insecurity and educational outcomes. John also has experience in debt investing and basketball analytics. He has a BA in economics from Harvard University.
Cali Slepin - Senior Project manager
Cali is passionate about the role affordable housing plays in supporting neighborhood stability and community priorities. She started her career at the Urban Land Institute, working with their Bay Area members and then transitioning to their national Advisory Services team. Cali went on to the National Housing Trust, where she ran initiatives for their CDFI lending team focusing on homeownership innovations and small building preservation. Cali holds a Masters in City Planning with a Certificate in Real Estate from University of California Berkeley and a BA in Africana Studies and Anthropology from Oberlin College.
Ben walton - associate Project Manager
Ben’s theory of change is to use cross sector partnerships to reform our economic system by addressing climate change and economic / racial inequities. He is interested in innovative, scalable solutions that address wicked problems. Prior to joining Trust Neighborhoods, he was a 2019 Venture for America Fellow and worked as a Product Analyst at a software startup. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Maryland.
Natalie Gauger - associate
Natalie has centered her work on public service and social justice activism. Sustainability and equity have guided her focus on implementing people-driven solutions for disinvested communities. She comes to Trust Neighborhoods as a 2021 Venture for America Fellow. This Fellowship fosters personal and professional development at startups in cities across America. She has a BA in environmental studies and urban planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
our values
Trust Neighborhoods
When in doubt, trust the neighborhood. We are a service to the passion, creativity, and potential of residents, to neighborhoods being their best selves. We must be worthy of trust, through the quality of our work and actions.
Get Proximate
We believe staying close to the issues we are trying to address and the people we want to support provides energy and insight.
Embrace learning for ourselves and others
Learning makes us better. From our failures. From our feedback. From a diversity of perspectives. From our curiosity.
Be intentional about process
Good process creates good. We evaluate ourselves based on the quality and equity of our processes, not just our outcomes.
Cultivate our playground
We take our work seriously, but not ourselves. We foster lightness and belonging alongside intense ambition. This breeds our creative and open culture, which produces good ideas.
Federal Nondiscrimination Notice
In accordance with federal law and U.S. Department of Treasury policy, Trust Neighborhoods is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability.
Submit a complaint of discrimination:
By mail to
Department of the Treasury
Director, Office of Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20220
Or by email to
Click here to see our Language Assistance Plan (LAP) in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.