Natashia Holmes

On February 13, 2013, Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed Natashia L. Holmes as Alderman of the 7th Ward of the City of Chicago. Alderman Holmes has an extensive background in policy development, data analysis, project management, and outreach to elected officials and community groups. Alderman Holmes began her professional career with the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference as a Transportation Planning Liaison, where she was responsible for programming more than $64M federal Surface Transportation Program for local communities. Prior to her appointment, Alderman Holmes was the Project Manager of Government Relations and Public Outreach for Metro Strategies, where she was responsible for coordinating and managing public involvement initiatives for regional and statewide clients. During her more than seven year tenure at the Illinois Department of Transportation, Alderman Holmes served as the Division of Public and Intermodal Transportation‘s primary staff on internal and external efforts to coordinate the State’s transit and rail programs. She also worked with national organizations to develop policies and programs that support public transit, freight, passenger and high-speed rail initiatives; developed policies for the state’s administration of federally funded program; and applied for and managed federal transportation grants. In her capacity as Senior Transportation Associate for the Metropolitan Planning Council, she worked with national, state and local officials as well as business and civic interests on establishing fair and accountable transportation and smart growth policies; and managed from concept to implementation Chicagoland TRIPS, the first-ever web-based transit itinerary planning system for the Chicago metropolitan region. Alderman Holmes holds a B.S. from Alabama State University, College of Education, a Master of Community Planning from Auburn University, College of Architecture, Design and Construction, and a J.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law.