Chimalli Hernandez
Neighborhood Specialist
Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office
Love Your Block is a resident-driven mini-grant program focused on neighborhood improvement, civic participation, and community empowerment. In his role, he manages the full lifecycle of a competitive grant program, including community outreach, application review, cross-departmental coordination, contracting, compliance, and post-project evaluation. Chimalli’s work emphasizes equitable funding practices, resident capacity building, and strengthening partnerships between local government and communities. Chimalli previously served as a Love Your Block Fellow through the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation, where he helped establish and expand the program by developing human-centered engagement strategies, coordinating city services, and supporting dozens of resident-led projects across Salt Lake City. He holds aMaster of City and Metropolitan Planning and a Bachelor of Science in Urban Ecology from the University of Utah.
Session(s):
Well Heard Communities: Tools to Enhance Civic Engagement »
APA Utah 2026 Spring Conference: Bryce Canyon, April 9, 2026 11:30 amCivic engagement is a core philosophy of the planning profession, but creating meaningful engagement is easier said than done! This session will draw upon the experiences of planning practitioners with a record of successful civic engagement within Utah and across the country. Panelists will discuss strategies and tools they have used in their own work, the challenges they have navigated, and the groundwork that must be done to build inclusive, resilient places.
= Keynote
