Derek Okubo

Vice President, National Civic League

Derek Okubo is the Vice President of the National Civic League. In this capacity, Derek oversees all operations and programs out of the National Headquarters in Denver. He has delivered extensive technical assistance for local and state governments, school districts and communities in areas that include long-range planning, economic development, conflict resolution, apprenticeships, diversity, program development, collaborative problem-solving, consensus building, substance abuse prevention and health care.

Derek has been a part of nearly 40 community planning processes around the country. Derek was the primary author of the documents Governance and Diversity: Findings from Los Angeles and Governance and Diversity: Findings from Oakland and The Community Visioning and Strategic Planning Handbook. He managed the process to develop the revised version of the Civic Index - a self assessment tool for communities to measure their civic infrastructure. He is also actively involved in the eighth revision of the Model City Charter.

Immediately upon graduation from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Psychology, Derek began his professional career as the Denver County Coordinator for Big Brothers of Metro Denver, Inc. Later, as Director of High School Programs, he designed and implemented a youth volunteer program which received national attention for its innovative approaches. Upon leaving Big Brothers, he received an appointment to the staff of Colorado's governor as a liaison to communities in northeastern Colorado. Okubo has spoken nationally on issues that include community and program development, collaborative problem-solving, volunteerism, diversity and multi-culturalism, prevention and intervention strategies for communities and youth, youth apprenticeship, and civic infrastructure.

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