Bill Potapchuk

Bill Potapchuk is President and founder of the Community Building Institute (CBI). CBI works to strengthen the capacity of communities and organizations to conduct public business inclusively, collaboratively, and effectively with the goal of building healthy, sustainable and equitable futures.

Potapchuk has worked with states and communities around the country as well as a number of foundations, federal agencies, and nonprofit organizations. He is an experienced trainer and an accomplished public speaker, delivering workshops and speeches for local and state leaders. He also has served as a facilitator and mediator in a wide range of settings, including successful efforts to merge school systems in Durham, North Carolina; build a new zoning ordinance in Loudon County, VA; strengthen affordable housing policy in Arlington, Virginia, and build consensus on a green building ordinance for Washington, DC. He has co-led the development of major strategic plans for Washington DC Public Schools, Newark Public Schools, and a plan for all students in Detroit.  He has led strategic planning processes for the Coalition for Community Schools, PreK Now, and the District of Columbia Public Schools. Believing that communities need to build their capacity to work across differences, he helped found Collaboration DC, an initiative working to support the use of collaborative practices to address tough issues.

Potapchuk has worked on major projects for the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; the District of Columbia; Montgomery County, Maryland; the Community Foundation of the National Capital Region; the Maryland Governor’s Office for Children, Youth, and Families; the DC Children Youth Investment Trust Corporation; the Federal Transit Administration; the Community Building Initiative in Multnomah County, Oregon; and the Healthy Neighborhood Initiative in Hampton, Virginia; among others.

Potapchuk served for almost ten years as Executive Director of the Program for Community Problem Solving (PCPS), a partnership of the National League of Cities, International City/County Management Association, National Civic League, American Chamber of Commerce Executives and other national organizations. He also served as Associate Director of the Conflict Clinic, Inc. A native of Cleveland,

Potapchuk received his BA in Urban Studies from Case Western Reserve University, his MA in Political Science from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and his MS in Conflict Resolution from George Mason University. Potapchuk completed a nine-month, post-baccalaureate Public Affairs Fellowship with the Coro Foundation in 1983.

Potapchuk is widely published. He has worked with co-authors on Learning from Neighborhoods: The Story of the Hampton Neighborhood Initiative, 1993-2003, Community Development: A Guide for Grantmakers on Fostering Better Outcomes through Good Process, Pulling Together: A Planning and Development Consensus Building Manual, Negotiated Approaches to Environmental Decision Making in Communities: An Exploration of Lessons Learned, and Building Community: Exploring the Role of Social Capital and Local Government; written numerous articles; and edited an issue of the National Civic Review focused on social capital. He has co-authored chapters for the Deliberative Democracy Handbook, Consensus Building Handbook and the Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook.