“I am a community organizer and political economist with both personal commitment to—and research interest in—resilient communities of healthy individuals.”

Ryan has continually pursued a lifestyle of sustainability-oriented community organizing in Bloomington, Indiana. He is trained in four major subfields of Political Science (international relations, comparative politics, political philosophy, and public policy) but has years of experience with community organizing and work in the nonprofit and university research sectors. Ryan also has archival and field-based research experience in Ghana and the United States, the most formative of which was his work with Elinor Ostrom on her first non-natural-resource-based commons-oriented research project: Managing the Health Commons. Ryan now spends his days keeping multiple, local nonprofits and City commissions alive and thriving, while pioneering several community-building projects, like the hourBloomington Timebank and the Glenn Carter Memorial ToolShare. With training in professional research and writing, Ryan has played a leading role in nonprofit outreach, program development, event organizing, and policy advocacy for the Center for Sustainable Living, the Bloomington Food Policy Council, and the City of Bloomington Commission on Sustainability. Furthermore, Ryan freely gives talks at public events and provides strategic/research consultancy to area nonprofits that he loves. Ryan and his wife recently acquired a small farm northeast of Bloomington.