Dr. Tonni Oberly (Black Mamas Matter Alliance) has been selected to receive the 2025 Janet Smith Emerging Activist Scholar Research Award. This award is sponsored by the Voorhees Family and Individual Donors.
This annual award recognizes an emerging activist scholar whose research record shows a direct relationship between activism, scholarship, and engagement with community(ies). This award honors the memory of Dr. Janet Smith, Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois Chicago’s College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, and co-director of the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement. As an expert in local and national housing policy, Janet dedicated her career to fighting alongside community groups for a right to place and representation within the city. Janet brought to this work a deep respect for the self-determination of communities. Working alongside communities and activists, she brought her own astute analysis – and fierce critique – of the political economy of housing production in the United States.
Janet’s energy, enthusiasm, and determination were inspirational to all that worked with her. This award honors Janet’s contributions as an activist scholar as well as her commitment to supporting emerging scholars in developing their own models for community engagement and activism.
AWARD COMMITTEE ASSESSMENT
As a truly young and emerging scholar, Tonni Oberly demonstrates a commitment to mentoring the next generation of reproductive justice scholars and practitioners. Through their work with the National Birth Equity Collaborative, Tonni Oberly embodies the ethos of an activist scholar, advocating for community interests but also empowering community members to participate in the research process, equipping them with the knowledge and opportunities to self-advocate. Their innovative research marries reproductive justice with environmental justice to produce novel insights about the intersections of climate change, racism, sexism, and community engagement, important for both theory and practice. This work, while always necessary, is especially important in these times.
AWARD RECIPIENT BIO
Tonni Oberly earned her PhD in city and regional planning and her masters in public health from The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on the intersections of place, racism, and health outcomes in Black communities. She is especially passionate about reproductive and environmental justice. Dr. Oberly currently serves as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Health Policy Institute of Ohio (HPIO) where she leads quantitative and qualitative research for the development of policy briefs and resources. Tonni also serves as a policy analyst consultant for the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA) where she is part of a team organizing a Black Maternal Health Task Force to push for policies that support a comprehensive policy agenda to achieve reproductive justice. She is an accomplished emerging scholar with publications in highly respected journals including the Journal of the American Planning Association and the Journal of Urban Affairs. Tonni is also a trained doula and co-owns and operates a regenerative farm with her husband. In her free time, Tonni loves to spend time in nature and read books that stretch her imagination to dream of brighter futures.
AWARD PRESENTATION
The formal presentation of this award will be made at the upcoming International Conference on Urban Affairs in Vancouver, BC, Canada, at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre. The theme of this year’s conference is Urban Concentration: Challenges to Equity, Mobility, and Sustainability. The conference will convene over 900 participants from 55+ countries and representing 20+ fields of study. All award recipients will be formally recognized for their achievements during the Awards and Recognition Program on April 16, 2025; 3:00–4:15pm.
AWARD COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Chandra Ward, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (Chair); Kenton Card, Boston University; Jordy Coutin, University of Southern California; Kuni Kamizaki, University of British Columbia; William Peterman, Chicago State University (retired)
ABOUT THE URBAN AFFAIRS ASSOCIATION
The Urban Affairs Association (UAA) is an international professional organization for 1000+ urban scholars, researchers, policy analysts, & public service providers. UAA is dedicated to creating interdisciplinary spaces for engaging in intellectual and practical discussions about urban life. Through theoretical, empirical, and action-oriented research, UAA fosters diverse activities to understand and shape a more just and equitable urban world.
In addition to hosting an annual conference, UAA sponsors ongoing professional development opportunities; Upsilon Sigma: The Urban Studies Honor Society; and two peer-reviewed journals, the Journal of Urban Affairs and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City. You can find UAA on the web, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Facebook, and X.
