Karilyn Crockett holds a PhD from the American Studies program at Yale University, a MS in Geography from the London School of Economics, and a MA in Religion from Yale Divinity School. Crockett’s research focuses on large-scale land use changes in twentieth century American cities and examines the social and geographic implications of structural poverty and race. Her book People before Highways: Boston Activists, Urban Planners, and a New Movement for City Making (UMASS Press 2018) investigates a 1960s era grassroots movement to halt urban extension of the U.S. interstate highway system and the geographic and political changes in Boston that resulted. In 2019, this book was named one of the “ten best books of the decade” by the Boston Public Library Association of Librarians.

Previously Crockett co-founded Multicultural Youth Tour of What's Now (MYTOWN), an award winning, Boston-based, educational non-profit organization. MYTOWN hired public high school students to research their local and family histories to produce youth-led walking tours for sale to public audiences. During its nearly 15 years of operation, MYTOWN created jobs for more than 300 low and moderate-income teenagers, who in turn led public walking tours for more than 14,000 visitors and residents. In a White House ceremony, the National Endowment for the Humanities cited MYTOWN as “One of ten best Youth Humanities Programs in America.”

Crockett served for four years with the Mayor's Office of Economic Development as the Director of Economic Policy & Research and the Director of Small Business Development for the City of Boston. She recently completed her service as the City of Boston's first Chief of Equity, a Cabinet-level position Mayor Walsh established to embed equity and racial justice into all City planning, operations, and work moving forward. She holds a faculty appointment as professor of urban history, public policy and planning in MIT's Department of Urban Studies & Planning. Crockett’s career mission is to continue to work at the nexus of education, economic development policy and urban revitalization.

Crockett explains that she was drawn to the RLPI because “it recognizes and elevates not just what we do, but who we are and the daily role of our interior selves within our public lives. We are all driven by what we believe whether we are theists or not. Being able to name, clarify and nurture what propels us professionally and personally is critical for living fulfilled and healthy lives in any age and especially in 2021, a time of crisis and change.”

As an RPL Fellow, Crockett is excited to “join an incredible community of doers and believers committed to sharing what they know, and especially, what they don’t know with one another, curious students, and the world at large.” She says, “I’m eager to learn from the students and hear what they most wish to create through their beliefs, analysis, and purpose discernment. I hope I can leave them with a greater sense of their own possibilities and just how much their gifts, abilities and service humility are needed by a broken and wounded world in search of wholeness and healing.”