Ashley E. Nickels is Professor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies at Kent State University. She is the author of Power, Participation, and Protest in Flint, Michigan: Unpacking the Policy Paradox of Municipal Takeovers (Temple), which in 2020 won the Best Book Award from the American Society for Public Administration's Section on Democracy and Social Justice and the American Political Science Association's Robert A. Dahl Award, and was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title in addition to receiving Honorable Mention for the APSA Urban Politics Section Dennis Judd Best Book Award. She is also the co-editor-in-chief of the journal Administrative Theory & Praxis . Zachary D. Wood is Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Nonprofit Leadership at Seattle University and a Faculty Fellow with the Education Network for Active Civic Transformation (ENACT) program at Brandeis University. His research focuses on community development and urban social policy, applying critically grounded frameworks to interrogate the structural power and funding arrangements that shape community access to power and decision-making.

His work has appeared in Community Development and Public Administration Theory: Promoting Democratic Principles to Improve Communities, Handbook of Urban Politics and Policy, Politics in the American States: A Comparative Analysis , and Handbook of Critical Perspectives on Nonprofit Organizing and Voluntary Action .