Theme: Local Action
Thursday, April 6th
The rapid increase of extreme heat events in cities is one of the stark indicators of global warming, and the effects of these events vividly expose the grotesque injustice caused by dramatic differences in neighborhood environments. In most major cities, historically “redlined” low-income communities and communities of color typically have less than half the amount of urban forest cover that wealthier communities possess. Lack of urban canopy contributes to an array of inequities including radically disparate outcomes in public health, economic opportunity, education and life expectancy. Today a coalition of NGOs, cities, scientists and community-centered initiatives has converged to create a moment of historic change, leading to massive public investment in urban forestry at 10X the scale ever before seen. Designed as equity-centered community development focusing on jobs and local enterprise creation, this new vision of urban forests will build climatic AND community resilience. Hear from four leaders in this dynamic emergent field: Julia Hillengas, co-founder and Executive Director of Philadelphia’s PowerCorpsPHL; Samira Malone, 27, first-ever Director of the Cleveland Tree Coalition; Amos White, founder and Chief Planting Officer of 100K Trees for Humanity; and moderator Brett KenCairn, Boulder, CO’s Senior Climate and Sustainability Coordinator.
April 6th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Campanile Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza
Panelists
Samira Malone
Director | The Cleveland Tree Coalition
Samira Malone is the Director of The Cleveland Tree Coalition, a collaborative of public, private and community stakeholders partnered with the City of Cleveland to create a healthy, vibrant, sustainable and equitable urban forest. Samira works to raise awareness of the critical need for a robust tree canopy in Cleveland and to generate financial support for the work of the Coalition. Her practice as an urban planner and environmental leader is rooted in racial and environmental restorative justice and holistic community development.
Julia Hillengas
Executive Director | PowerCorpsPHL
Julia Hillengas, co-founded (in 2013) and is Executive Director of PowerCorpsPHL, initially a City of Philadelphia workforce development initiative designed to help address youth disconnection and violence and promote urban environmental sustainability. Julia, who has extensive experience as an educator, coach, community organizer and public sector leader, currently leads PowerCorps’ strategy, partnerships, and expansion, seeking to work as a bridge-builder between young people and economic opportunities nationally.
Amos White
Founder and Chief Planting Officer | 100K Trees for Humanity
Amos White, founder and Chief Planting Officer of 100K Trees for Humanity, created 100K Trees in 2019 as a political and community action response to America's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. Since its founding, 100K Trees has formed partnerships with a number of organizations, including the Sierra Club and American Forests, and Amos was appointed to CALFIRE's Urban Forestry Advisory Committee in 2021 and to the Alameda County Agricultural Advisory Committee in 2022. He also authored the CA Urban Greenbelt Initiative to plant trees at scale for climate, for equity and for health in 433 CA communities by 2030.
Brett KenCairn
Senior Policy Advisor for Climate and Resilience | City of Boulder
Brett KenCairn, Boulder Colorado’s Senior Policy Advisor for Climate Action and leader of that town’s Natural Climate Solutions team, is the Director of the Center for Regenerative Solutions (CRS)—an initiative to expand natural climate solutions nationally that is co-sponsored by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network. He also is the founder or co-founder of four organizations including: the Rogue River Institute for Ecology and Economy, Veterans Green Jobs, and Community Energy Systems.
4:45 pm: Democratizing our Economy and Building the “Next System”
Presented in collaboration with the Democracy Collaborative
Imagine a world in which workers in construction, nursing and home care, farming, social work, teaching, etc., and all the rest of us—we, the people—are the ones who make the key decisions about how to allocate resources in our communities, not wealthy CEOs, massive corporations, or corrupt politicians. This session will delve into what a truly democratic, decentralized/localized economy would look like and closely examine examples of such initiatives already operating around the world that point to a “next system” radically different in fundamental ways from the failed systems of the past and present and capable of delivering superior social, economic and ecological outcomes. With: Laura Flanders, host/Executive Producer of The Laura Flanders Show, author of Blue Grit: Making Impossible, Improbable, Inspirational Political Change in America; Hilary Abell, Co-founder and Chief Policy & Impact Officer at Project Equity; Akaya Windwood, Lead Advisor at Third Act.
April 6th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Magnes Museum
Panelists
Laura Flanders
Host and Executive Producer | The Laura Flanders Show
Laura Flanders, one of the pre-eminent progressive journalists and media figures in the country, is the host and Executive Producer of the nationally syndicated The Laura Flanders Show, which airs on nearly 300 PBS stations nationwide (and online, on radio, and as a podcast). She is an Izzy-Award winning independent journalist, a bestselling author (including of: Blue Grit: Making Impossible, Improbable, Inspirational Political Change in America and Bushwomen) and a recipient of the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Media Center.
Akaya Windwood
Lead Advisor | Third Act
Akaya Windwood, founder of the New Universal Wisdom and Leadership Institute, on the faculty of the Just Economy Institute, “Lead Advisor” at the activist group Third Act, and former President of Rockwood Leadership Institute (for ten years), also directs the Thriving Roots Fund. A longtime “transformation facilitator,” Akaya has won slews of awards for her activism and visionary leadership and is the author of: Leading with Joy: Practices for Uncertain Times.
Hilary Abell
Co-founder, Chief Policy & Impact Officer | Project Equity
Hilary Abell is co-founder (with Alison Lingane in 2014) and Chief Policy & Impact Officer with Project Equity, has been an employee ownership practitioner, thought leader, and advocate since 2003. With a mission to foster economic resiliency in low-income communities, Project Equity raises awareness about broad-based employee ownership (EO), helps successful businesses transition to employee ownership, and develops policies and partnerships to advance EO. Recent highlights include seeing client companies in low-wage industries share more than $1M in profit with their worker-owners and helping pass the California Employee Ownership Act. Hilary’s publications include Worker Cooperatives: Pathways to Scale, The Case for Employee Ownership and California Cooperatives. Hilary has been a fellow with Echoing Green, Common Future, and the Institute for the Study of EO at Rutgers University. She and her co-founder received the 2022 Heinz Award for the Economy
Food can be grown and gleaned in some very unexpected places: People are harvesting wild foods in urban and rural locales, transforming commercial building rooftops into living ecosystems, and making the desert bloom with regenerative and traditional Indigenous practices. Come learn about cutting-edge diverse, innovative, local and rejuvenating food security strategies. With: urban farmer Benjamin Fahrer; Navajo (Diné) farmer James Skeet; Mia Andler, founder and Executive Director of Vilda. Moderated by Arty Mangan, Bioneers’ Director of Restorative Food Systems.
April 6th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza
Panelists
James Skeet
Co-Founder | Covenant Pathways
James Skeet (Navajo), co-founder of the non-profit, Covenant Pathways, and co-proprietor (with his wife, Joyce) of Spirit Farm, on ancestral land in Vanderwagen, New Mexico, draws from ancient Native wisdom, including traditional farming and spiritual practices, to create a regenerative haven where soil vitality, nutrient rich foods, human health and free markets can prosper for another 10,000 years.
Mia Andler
Founder and Executive Director | Vilda
Mia Andler, author of The Sierra Forager and co-author of The Bay Area Forager, is the founder and Executive Director of Vilda, a non-profit that runs nature connection programs for children in Tahoe, Truckee and the San Francisco Bay Area. Mia, who has been foraging since she was a little girl and has studied the regenerative practices of earth-based cultures around the world, has made frequent media appearances highlighting her work.
Benjamin Fahrer
Director of Agroecology and Land Stewardship | Deep Medicine Circle
Benjamin Fahrer is the Director of Agroecology and Land Stewardship for the Deep Medicine Circle (DMC) and the owner of Top Leaf Farms, a design/build company focused on innovative ecological rooftop farming systems. Over the last 25 years Fahrer has played key roles with bio-intensive land projects that have helped define regenerative practices and showcased scalable and easily replicated climate solutions.
Arty Mangan
Restorative Food Systems Director | Bioneers
Arty Mangan, Bioneers' Restorative Food Systems Director, joined Bioneers in 1998 as Project Manager for the Restorative Development Initiative. A former board president of the Ecological Farming Association and member of the Santa Cruz GE Subcommittee that banned GE crops, Arty has worked with farmers and agriculture since 1978, first as a partner in Live Juice and later with Odwalla, where he was in charge of fruit sourcing.
Friday, April 7th
This panel of community leaders from Aotearoa/New Zealand will share their on-the-ground insights, from initiatives that demonstrate paradigm shifts for “rights of nature” legal protections for land and people, cultural capability and education, and convening multi-stakeholder land stewardship. Underpinning all these stories, the unique natural, cultural and legal history of Aotearoa and the Māori worldview reminds us of the value of humility, courage and connection. With: Jan Hania, Principal of Strategy Development, Biome Trust; Lara Hania, educator, storyteller; Erin Matariki Carr, Project Lead, RIVER. Moderated by Chelsea Robinson, Open Lunar Foundation.
April 7th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Golden Bear Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza
Panelists
Jan Hania
Principal of Strategy Development | Biome Trust
Jan Hania is Tuwharetoa, Raukawa-ki-teTonga, Te Atiawa of Aotearoa/New Zealand, and is the Principal of Strategy Development for Biome Trust, which is focused on having a sustained impact in environment, education, and human wellbeing. Jan has worked both in Aotearoa and internationally on large-scale bioregional regeneration and climate adaptation initiatives. Jan develops exemplar equity-based projects that are practically implemented, demonstrating effective and sustained outcomes.
Lara Hania
Educator and Facilitator
Lara Hania, with 30 years’ experience as an educator in Aotearoa/New Zealand, is committed to contributing to re-establishing Indigenous Māori equity and sovereignty as well as human-nature connections. Lara facilitates professional development for teachers and professionals enhancing cultural competency and nature connection and is a dynamic storyteller who shares narratives that draw on the patterns and wisdom of Te Taiao (the natural world) as a blueprint for humanity.
Chelsea Robinson
Chief Operating Officer | Open Lunar Foundation
Chelsea Robinson, from Waitakere in Aotearoa/New Zealand, lives in Tahoe, CA and leads the Open Lunar Foundation, which seeks to “create good governance and stewardship of the Moon.” Her background includes working on climate policy, movement building, commons management and improving democracy.
Erin Matariki Carr
Project Lead | RIVER
Erin Matariki Carr, of Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Awa descent, lives in her traditional homelands in Aotearoa/New Zealand and works in law and policy, with a focus on the interface between Indigenous and Western legal systems and methodologies. She previously worked as Manager of Planning & Design to create and implement policies under the world-first legislation conferring legal personhood to the Te Urewera rainforest. Matariki is currently a project lead at RIVER, where she focuses on the constitutional transformation movement in Aotearoa with a number of other teams, including Tūmanako Consultants and Te Kuaka NZA.
4:45 pm: Practicing Regenerative Finance: How Community Loan Funds, Shared Governance and Reinvestment Support Local Solutions to the Climate Crisis
Presented in collaboration with the Climate Justice Alliance
Community loan funds are creating new possibilities for funding local solutions to the climate crisis, while also addressing a long history of institutional disinvestment in traditionally disenfranchised communities. Four grassroots organizers on the frontlines will speak to the ways that reinvestment campaigns are calling on philanthropy to invest in these local funds, redefine traditional conceptions of risk and return, and center stewarding wealth in ways that generate healing rather than harm. With: Gopal Dayaneni, co-founder, Movement Generation: Justice and Ecology Project; Loren White Jr., Community Development Coordinator at the Indigenous Environmental Network; Lupe Romero Elicea, Co-Director for the Climate Justice Our Power Loan Fund; Briana Sidney, Cooperation Richmond.
April 7th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Golden Bear Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza
Panelists
Gopal Dayaneni
Co-Founder | Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project
Gopal Dayaneni, who has been organizing and campaigning for social, economic, environmental and racial justice since the late 1980s, is a co-founder of Movement Generation: Justice and Ecology Project, dedicated to the liberation and restoration of land, labor, and culture and to a Just Transition away from profit and pollution and towards healthy, resilient, life-affirming local economies. Movement Generation (MG) is a founding member of the Climate Justice Alliance. Gopal, currently a member of MG's Planning Committee and board, continues to work closely with the organization on diverse projects and also supports movement-building through his work with several other organizations, including The Climate Justice Alliance, ETCgroup, NDN Collective, the Center for Story-based Strategy and People’s Solar Energy Fund.
Loren White, Jr.
Community Development Coordinator | Indigenous Environmental Network
Loren White, Jr., who has been working on environmental and economic justice for nearly 20 years, recently joined the Indigenous Environmental Network as its Community Development Coordinator. Since 2018 he has been working with Indigenous frontline communities to help design and develop, manage and maintain the collaborative Regenerative Community Loan Fund, as well as assisting in bringing to fruition a number of other projects rooted in principles of sustainability, equity, and “Just Transition.”
Lupe Romero Elicea
Co-Director | Climate Justice Alliance’s Just Transition Revolving Loan Fund & Incubator
Guadalupe “Lupe” Romero Elicea, Co-Director of the Climate Justice Alliance’s Reinvest in Our Power initiative, migrated from Mexico to the Bay Area at 17 and became involved with the Immigrant and Chicanx student movements. Guadalupe later became a worker-owner of Spectrum Apparel printing and co-founded its political arm, Printers United, with the goal of creating screen printing for art, revolutionary propaganda and social movement support.
Briana Sidney
| Cooperation Richmond
Briana Sidney jumped into the world of cooperatives at 19. She became a worker-owner at Mandela Grocery Cooperative for 5 years. In her time there she fell in love with cooperatives. She joined the Cooperation Richmond team to help the Richmond community establish ownership over their local businesses.
Saturday, April 8th
Richmond, California, which has long been one of the municipalities most impacted by environmental injustice and toxic industries in the entire state, has in recent years emerged as an inspiring example of effective community mobilization, as a number of local groups there working in different domains have demonstrated that people can organize to radically improve their lives and challenge oppressive power structures. Hosted by longtime Richmond community leader and now City Councilwoman Doria Robinson, Executive Director of Urban Tilth and other Richmond community organizations, as well as a member of the California State Food and Agriculture Commission. With: Adam Boisvert, Deputy Director, Urban Tilth; Connie Cho, Attorney, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE); Najari Smith, founding Director of the Rich City Project.
April 8th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza
Panelists
Doria Robinson
Founder | Urban Tilth
Doria Robinson, a 3rd generation resident of Richmond, CA and one of its great civic leaders who has worked tirelessly to build community-controlled wealth and local empowerment, is: Executive Director of Urban Tilth; co-founder of worker-owned Cooperation Richmond; and recently elected District 3 Richmond City Council Member. Doria, a Certified Permaculture Designer, earlier in her life worked on organic farms and at the women-owned organic produce distribution company Veritable Vegetable and at Real Food Company. In 2014 she led the charge to develop Urban Tilth’s 3-acre urban farm in Richmond and in 2016 relaunched a farm-to-table CSA social entrepreneurial venture which now serves produce to 440 West County families each week.
Adam Boisvert
Deputy Director | Urban Tilth
Adam Boisvert has spent the past 13 years growing community and school garden and food production programs with the food justice organization Urban Tilth in Richmond, California. Currently, Adam serves as Urban Tilth’s Deputy Director and as a teacher-of-record for the Urban Agriculture Academy at Richmond High School, a year-round elective course rooted in hands-on, experiential learning.
Najari Smith
Director | Rich City Rides
Najari Smith is the Executive Director of Rich City Rides, a Richmond, CA-based organization he founded in 2012 that uses bike ownership and bicycling as base-building vehicles for healthy civic change, and that has been transitioning into the broader community-focused development through the incubation of new enterprises. For over 10 years, Najari and Rich City Rides have worked to unite communities, transform vacant lots into vibrant parks, make closed storefronts into worker-owned cooperatives and strip away the barriers to using bicycles as viable, healthy green transportation options.
Connie Cho
Attorney | Communities for a Better Environment
Connie Cho, M.Sc., Staff Attorney, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), first joined CBE as a Justice Catalyst Legal Fellow in 2020. Prior to becoming an attorney, she worked in local government, community organizing, and non-profit services to transform health care and social safety net systems in New York. Connie is a graduate of Yale, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Law School.
Join author Madeline Ostrander; environmental scientist Rachel Morello-Frosch; Richmond, CA City Council Member Doria Robinson; and youth organizer and Sierra Club Emerging Voices award-winner Alfredo Angulo for a discussion about lessons from frontline and environmental justice communities—and how their voices are vital to understanding how to face the climate crisis and develop solutions. We’ll explore how such communities are advocating for stronger climate policies, building collective strength to fight against industrial pollution and launching groundbreaking grassroots initiatives in this time of climate emergency.
April 8th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza
Panelists
Alfredo Angulo
Environmental Justice Organizer
Alfredo Angulo (they/them), a lifelong Richmond, CA resident and recent first-generation graduate from U.C. Berkeley, witnessed many oil spills, fires, and gas leaks from the second-largest refinery in California in that town, and became an environmental justice organizer, working on such projects such as the Bay Area Air Quality Management’s Community Emissions Reduction Plan for Richmond, as well as documenting the stories of those most harmed by generations of fossil fuel operations with the Richmond Progressive Alliance’s Listening Project.
Madeline Ostrander
Climate Journalist and Author
Madeline Ostrander is a Seattle-based climate journalist and the author of At Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth, one of Kirkus Review’s 100 best nonfiction books of 2022. The former Senior Editor of YES! Magazine, her writing has also appeared in The Atlantic, The NewYorker.com, The Nation, PBS's NOVA Next, Slate, and numerous other outlets.
Rachel Morello-Frosch
Professor | UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health
Rachel Morello-Frosch is a professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health whose research integrates community-based and environmental health science methods to understand structural determinants of environmental health among diverse communities with a focus on social inequality, racism, discrimination, psychosocial stress, and how these factors interact with environmental hazard exposures to produce health inequalities. She also collaborates with environmental justice partners to develop tools to improve policy and regulatory decision-making, and to advance environmental justice.
Doria Robinson
Founder | Urban Tilth
Doria Robinson, a 3rd generation resident of Richmond, CA and one of its great civic leaders who has worked tirelessly to build community-controlled wealth and local empowerment, is: Executive Director of Urban Tilth; co-founder of worker-owned Cooperation Richmond; and recently elected District 3 Richmond City Council Member. Doria, a Certified Permaculture Designer, earlier in her life worked on organic farms and at the women-owned organic produce distribution company Veritable Vegetable and at Real Food Company. In 2014 she led the charge to develop Urban Tilth’s 3-acre urban farm in Richmond and in 2016 relaunched a farm-to-table CSA social entrepreneurial venture which now serves produce to 440 West County families each week.
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