Karen L. Black is an attorney and the CEO of May 8 Consulting, Inc. a woman-owned social impact consulting firm. Black is also a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and a Senior Research Fellow at Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation. Black is the author of over a dozen publications discussing strategies to reactivate vacant and deteriorated properties. Most recently Black co-authored a book just released by the American Bar Association called the ABA Vacant and Problem Properties Book: A Guide to Legal Strategies and Remedies. In addition, Black is actively working with dozens of communities across the country to address problem properties in order to revitalize communities and preserve critical housing. In Spring 2020, Black was named by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia as a Reinventing Our Communities Scholar. Black received a Bachelor of Arts from Williams College and a Juris Doctor from UCLA Law School. Prior to starting her own firm, Black was the founding director of the Metropolitan Philadelphia Policy Center, a region-wide policy center founded to research issues impacting the economy, environment and equity within the Philadelphia metropolitan region. Prior to that, Black spent 12 years as a practicing civil rights attorney.