Wanona Satcher

Neighborhood Development Specialist
City of Durham Neighborhood Improvement Services Department

Urban Designer, Landscape Architect Intern, City Planner, Economic Developer Finance Professional

Ms. Satcher is an urban designer, landscape architect intern, and planner originally from Atlanta, Georgia. After graduating from Auburn University (College of Architecture, Design, & Construction) in Auburn, Alabama with honors in the dual Landscape Architecture and Community Planning programs, Ms. Satcher moved to Durham, NC to work in professional design firms. In 2008, she started her own urban design, economic development, and leadership consulting company, CDDG (Community Design Development Group). After consulting with the City of Durham as a grant writer for sustainable programming, she now works in the Neighborhood Improvement Services Department as a Neighborhood Development Specialist. As staff she combines landscape architecture, planning, community engagement, and innovative economic development models to establish and facilitate sustainable revitalization programs, policies, and projects in Durham through interdepartmental collaboration. Her role is to creatively solve problems in our inner city communities through urban design research, social innovation, arts, food access, and economic development financing. Ms. Satcher is project manager for the Durham Urban Innovation Center and Durham Network of Agriculture.

A huge fan of the performing arts, Ms. Satcher produced a unique and contemporary urban rendition titled “The Durham Nutcracker.” As producer, she collaborated with Walltown Children’s Theatre for the successful show that included ballet, salsa, capoeira, hip hop, tap dancing, African, and singing. Ms. Satcher envisions a future where art and everything we do as city, county, and state officials encourage our youth to imagine, persevere, be passionate, dream, read, and help others.