Ceasar L. McDowell

Ceasar L. McDowell is professor of the practice of community development at MIT, director of the global civic engagement organization Engage The Power and Senior Fellow at the Egan Urban Center at DePaul University. He holds an Ed.D. (88) and M.Ed. (84) from Harvard.  Ceasar’s current work is on the development of community knowledge systems and civic engagement. He has been working on the use of narrative and story making as a tool for sharing and maintaining grassroots knowledge. His research and teaching interests also include the use of mass media and technology in promoting democracy and community-building, the education of urban students, the development and use of empathy in community work, civil rights history, peacemaking and conflict resolution. Dr. McDowell is also founder of MIT’s Co-Lab (previously named Center for Reflective Community Practice) and co-founder of The Civil Rights Forum on Telecommunications Policy and founding Board member of The Algebra Project. He serves on the boards of The Center for Neighborhood Technology and the full Frame Initiative.

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