About Praxis Values
The Story Behind the Work
Praxis Values is an Ideas Collective and Think Tank — born from decades of community organizing, public leadership, and the stubborn belief that values-driven work can change the world.
About the Organization
What Praxis Values Does
Praxis Values is an 'Idea Collective' or Think Tank, that facilitates strategic planning and provides project management services, working with mission-driven organizations and individuals, to realize their vision in line with their values.
We work with organizations to facilitate the strategic planning process in a sustainable way — through what we call 'Sustainable Initiative Management' or SIM. SIM emphasizes stakeholder engagement, resource efficiency and continuous improvement to foster resilience and adaptability in facing organizational challenges.
Individual actions and interests combine to become 'communities of influence' whose impact on the issues that are important to you can be measured. This is part of the process of 'market transformation', that shapes the world.
Through Praxis Values, you support the core values of the environment, economy, social justice, political advocacy and culture.
Our Framework
Values. Community. Impact.
Values
Select your values — and how important they are to you. Select the businesses and services that are in line with those values.
Community
Join Communities of Influence (COIs), where your actions are combined with those of others — where you can build common interests and coalitions that support your values.
Impact
Leverage your actions and those of others to affect policy, improve the environment, take political action. Through Praxis Values you can Change the World!
Who Are We
Stephen Campbell
Owner, Praxis Values
Stephen Campbell is a skilled and dedicated capital project manager, who has developed the Sustainable Initiative Management system through numerous works with not-for-profit organizations and community groups. He earned his Bachelor of Architecture at Carnegie-Mellon University in 1979, and his Master of Architecture in Urban Design at Harvard in 1981.
He opened his own architecture office in upper Manhattan, practicing architecture and community development in Harlem and the South Bronx. In 1990 he entered public service in New York City's Department of Design and Construction, rapidly rising to become a Deputy Assistant Commissioner over capital construction for the public service agencies of Health, Human Services, Fire, Children, Aging and the Homeless.
In 1996 he returned to the private sector, reconstituting his office as a sustainability and infrastructure development consultancy. In 2004, with a growing interest in development in the Middle East, he moved to Beirut, Lebanon, teaching Architecture and capital planning at the American University of Beirut — and working at Dar Al Handassah's Planning Department on master planning efforts in Erbil (Iraqi Kurdistan), Oman, and Northern Jordan.
Shortly after returning to the States, in 2008 he reentered public service at Washington, DC's Department of General Services, where he created the Planning Office and led efforts including the Short Term Family Housing initiative to close the DC General Family Shelter, transforming industrial sites into sustainable public works facilities, and instituting a data-driven, agile project management information system.
In January 2020, Mr. Campbell joined the Government of the City of Lancaster as Director of the Department of Public Works. Under his leadership, DPW distinguished itself as a Vision Zero City, accelerated the Active Transportation network, elevated the Green Infrastructure program, and developed the first long-term capital plan for the City of Lancaster.
Let's Work Together
Whether you're an organization navigating complexity or a leader ready to align your work with your values — we'd love to hear from you.