Biography

Mildred Warner is a Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University where her work focuses primarily on local government service delivery and new community development models for addressing human services. Her work shows potential for market based solutions in public service delivery but also raises cautions about the uneven incidence of markets in depressed inner city and rural areas. Dr. Warner's research explores the issues of privatization, devolution and economic development. Dr. Warner is author of one edited volume and more than 70 refereed articles, book chapters, extension and consulting reports. She has received major research grants from the USDA National Research Initiative and Hatch program to look at the impacts of devolution and privatization on local government service delivery, and from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to explore the regional economic impacts of child care. She consults widely on economic development policy, local government and child care issues at the local, state and national levels. She has worked closely with International City County Management Association, National League of Cities, National Association of Counties and public sector unions such as AFSCME and CSEA. She was a visiting scholar with the Economic Policy Institute in 2005. She has been a featured speaker at local government conferences in Australia, New Zealand and Spain, and child care conferences all over the United States. Dr. Warner has a Ph.D. in Development Sociology, a Masters in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University and a BA in History from Oberlin College. Previously she served as a program officer with the Ford Foundation for three years and as Associate Director for nine years of Cornell's Community and Rural Development Institute where she brought policy makers, community development practitioners and academics together to explore new approaches to community development.