A Colorado native, Genevieve earned her B.A. from the University of Colorado, and was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard University Design School. A VISTA volunteer following her graduation from Colorado, she lived and worked for two years in East Harlem, NY, then worked as a recruiter and writer for VISTA in Washington, D.C. She moved to York in 1970 to work as a reporter for the York Gazette and Daily / York Daily Record, then left the paper to work as a free-lance writer. She entered the field of urban development through citizen activism.

She is now a member of the Women's Giving Circle of York County Community Foundation and the Rotary Club of York.   She sits on the boards of Planned Parenthood of South Central Pennsylvania and Historic York, Inc. (of which she was a charter member). She was vice chair of the York Outdoor Recreation Complex Committee and a member of the preceding site selection committee, and she facilitated the public meetings held in 2005 as part of the stadium planning process. She stepped down in 2007 as Chair of the City Planning Commission so she could make time to run for Council. 
 

Current Consulting Work

Genevieve has worked as a professional consultant since 1990, as principal of her own consulting firm, Urban Conservation & Design. Her recent contracts include the facilitation of two City Summits on City Beautification and the development of the "Beautiful YORK Action Plan," now being implemented by the York County Community Foundation, the City and various private non-profits. She currently works for the Foundation's Codorus Watershed Endowment, as local project coordinator of the Codorus Watershed Project, bringing together private-sector and non-profit groups with local, state and federal agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 2004 she directed a series of "Recapture the Riverfront" community workshops, and is now staffing Foundry Plaza Inc., a non-profit working with the City to renovate the Codorus Boat Basin and other projects that came out of the "Recapture" workshops. She conceived and initiated the "Gear Garden," a public art project planned for construction later this year as part of the Boat Basin/Foundry Plaza project. 
 

Genevieve Fought City Hall – and Won!

After Hurricane Agnes in 1972, Genevieve led a successful citizens' movement to stop the urban renewal plan that would have demolished 100 acres' worth of buildings west of Codorus Creek. She pulled together a coalition of neighborhood, environmental and business leaders in successfully reversing the urban renewal plan.

For six more years, this coalition paid her salary and office expenses, "donating" her to work with City and Redevelopment Authority staff in designing and implementing programs for renovation and rehabilitation programs in the district. Most of the buildings that were slated for demolition were successfully rehabbed, and are still desirable properties today. She also oversaw the development of public improvements along the Codorus Creek, including the first leg of what has become the Heritage Rail Trail County Park. In 1978, her work in York earned her a prestigious Loeb Fellowship in Advanced Environmental Studies at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (now Harvard Design School). 
 

Genevieve in Ohio & Returning to York

She left York in 1981 to become the City of Cincinnati's first Urban Conservator, in charge of the City's historic preservation programs.   After seven years she moved to Cleveland, where she was executive director of the non-profit development corporation for the "Flats," a 600-acre downtown riverfront district. In Ohio she was active in civic life, sitting on several design review boards, as vice chair of the Cleveland Heights City Planning Commission, on the board of Ohio & Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor and serving as president of the Cleveland Waterfront Coalition, a grassroots advocacy group for Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River.

In 2002, with her husband, historian and University of Cincinnati Professor Emeritus Henry D. Shapiro, she returned to York. Shapiro, diagnosed six months later with cancer, died in early 2004. Ray continues to live in their Springdale neighborhood home with her two SPCA dogs. She has three grown stepsons and two grandchildren.

Expert on healthy cities

From on-the-ground jobs in East Harlem, Cleveland, Cincinnati and York, she has over 30 years' expertise in building safe and healthy cities. She has saved thousands of homes and shops from demolition, organized programs to attract new businesses and jobs,led "Riverfront Recapture" and environmental projects. She brings fresh ideas for making York the high-quality hub of a growing region.  

Champion of win-win solutions

Genevieve has a real gift for bringing people together. Her ability to craft "win-win" solutions, even among discordant groups, is one of the hallmarks of her professional and civic life. A seasoned leader, she wins consensus through open, inclusive goal-setting and decision-making.