In early June of 2024, Libby was appointed to the Board of Trustees for the Harris County Health System.
Libby is working to build the infrastructure for an equitable society through advocacy, policy, legislation, and grounded impact.
Libby Viera-Bland, AICP, believes that the only way to approach societal challenges is through building intersectional solutions. She can zoom in to examine problems at the micro-community level and then resolve them through a wider policy lens. She received master's degrees in City Planning and Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.
She is currently the Director of Neighborhood Development and Community Enrichment Initiatives at Project Row Houses. In this work, she focuses on long-term strategies to build affordable housing, support neighborhood preservation, and provide direct services in the Third Ward. Most recently, she led the team to an award of multiple parcels of land upon which affordable housing will be built for the neighborhood.
As of June 2024, Libby was appointed to the Board of Trustees for Harris County’s Hospital System, Harris Health System. As a Trustee, she will oversee the $1.5 billion annual budget and the $2.5 billion bond that was passed to invest in the infrastructure of local hospitals and community health centers. She also serves as a Commissioner on the City of Houston’s Planning Commission and the Historic Preservation Appeals Board. She also dedicates her time to environmental justice as the secretary for the Bayou City Waterkeeper’s Board of Directors.
In her previous role as a Senior Planner and Urban Designer for Asakura Robinson, she successfully managed the community engagement aspects of the Harris County Housing Study, My Home is Here. Her leadership led to the development of interactive digital community engagement exercises and a survey tool that garnered over 17,000 responses. She also spearheaded the winning of Harris County’s Equity in Transportation plan. Additionally, she completed the Culture of Health Leaders fellowship through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where she focused on the intersections between health and housing through social determinants of health.