Sarah Johnson

Education

University of Memphis

Bachelor in Business Economics

Aug 2015

Master of City and Regional Planning

Aug 2021
  • Capstone: Addressing Neglect in the Private Rental Market

Work Experience

Eviction Lab Princeton, NJ

Research Specialist

August 2024 - current
  • Will use R to research rental housing problems

Affordable Housing Institute Boston, MA

Communications Specialist

May 2024 - July 2024
  • Worked as a Teaching Assistant at Harvard GSD for Real Estate Development & Finance Fundamentals classes taught by AHI CEO David Smith.
  • Communicate updates of AHI work on social media, including projects and fundraisers.

Shelby County Department of Housing Memphis, TN

Business Service Analyst

Oct 2023 - Mar 2024
  • Developed a website to provide frequently requested information regarding our Home Rehabilitation Program for contractors, residents, and internal use.
  • Wrote sections of annual plans and grant applications detailing the needs of the local housing community, purposes of our organization, and services we provided with planned expansions.
  • Created and described maps, graphs, and tables in static and interactive formats for reports, grants, and local officials. Utilized data from a variety of sources including the Census Bureau, CHAS, and assessor’s database, using R to manage datasets and convert information into visuals.
  • Aided a local nonprofit in fulfilling HUD grant application requirements, resulting in an $8M+ award for the agency.

Intake/Outreach Coordinator

Apr 2022 - Sep 2023
  • Conducted intake for our home rehabilitation program and created a database to organize client and project information.
  • Read and understood HUD regulations to ensure our program remained compliant with federal laws. Summarized these rules into clear terms to train my replacement upon promotion.
  • Developed a needs-based ranking system to select applicants based on factors such as age, housing quality, and income, rather than the existing first-come first-serve method.

University of Memphis Memphis, TN

Aug 2019 - Apr 2020

Graduate Assistant

  • Researched St. Louis’ land banking practices and methods of revitalizing vacant land by the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, with a focus on public-private partnerships.

Shelby County Department of Housing Memphis, TN

Aug 2018 - Apr 2019

Graduate Assistant

  • Analyzed and described local housing needs and market conditions for the department’s Five-Year Comprehensive Plan.

Technical Skills

Programming languages/frameworks/software: R, RStudio, Quarto, HTML, CSS, SCSS, Bootstrap, JS, VueJS, SQL, Git, Github, VSCode, Netlify, DigitalOcean

R is my primary tool for data wrangling (including geospatial data), analysis, static and interactive graphing, web scraping, and accessing APIs. I utilize Quarto for publishing this information as websites, dashboards, and presentations.

R Packages

R packages are a collection of functions that help users automate specified tasks. I developed the following R packages which are freely available to download and use via GitHub:

  • tidychas: Access HUD’s CHAS dataset in a tidy format.
  • memphis311: Access Memphis 311 data via API.
  • mk8dx: Convert Mario Kart speedrunning data to tabular format.

Older Experience

International Paper Memphis, TN

July 2017 - Jan 2019

Training Administrator

  • Created training material for new hires and employees transferring positions within the company.
  • Ensured material was understandable to someone unfamiliar with jargon, working with SMEs to verify accuracy while maintaining simplicity

Dragon Spirit Newspaper Collierville, TN

Aug 2010 - May 2012

Editor, Photographer, Columnist

  • Wrote and edited articles for high school newspaper, including a monthly column.
  • Pursued interviews with students and local community figures; photographed events.
  • Assigned articles to writers, ensured timely delivery, and proofread stories.
  • Sold newspapers classroom-to-classroom and persuaded local businesses to purchase ad space.
  • Attended journalism camp at the University of Alabama to learn best practices.