CENTERING JUSTICE SYMPOSIUM 2025

The Tishman Center is excited to announce that we will be co-hosting another Centering Justice Symposium with the Ingenious Resilience Center at the University of Arizona. The event will take place in Tucson, AZ in March 2025. Check back here for more details in December!

Centering Justice Symposium 2024

The 2024 Centering Justice Symposium brought together climate and EJ leaders and organizations, allied academic institutions, and relevant philanthropists to explore how higher education can better align with movements and advance just partnerships. During this two-and-a-half day event, rich discussion foregrounded EJ community voices to explore and codify the role that EJ and climate justice-focused university centers, and to an extent philanthropy and government, should play in advancing environmental justice—particularly in this pivotal moment of historic federal EJ and climate-focused investments.

The symposium brought together a cross-section of representatives whose work intersects with environmental justice. Participants were encouraged to embrace collaboration, try out new mindsets and, ultimately, worked to set a collective, on-going agenda. People from across sectors and embraced their roles as Activators, Weavers and Rule Benders. Conversations centered on common barriers, needed reforms, partnership and funding opportunities, best practices, and guiding principles.

Some participants called for a Manifesto to center justice, the core of which was synthesized into three salient areas for action: Establish just, equitable, transparent, and accountable resource sharing; ensure internal assessment and accountability systems within universities; and create an ongoing community of practice with trusted university centers and EJ partners which sets a high standard for academic-community partnerships.

Agenda

Attendees

Frontline Solutions - Summary Report

Acknowledgements

Speakers

Speaker bios

Alexandria McBride, Waverley Street Foundation (Copy)

Amy Kenyon, EPA

Dr. Ana Isabel Baptista, Tishman Environment & Design Center (Copy)

Angela Mahecha, Tishman Environment & Design Center (Copy)

Dr. Beverly Wright, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (Copy)

Christopher Coes, US Dept. of Transportation (Copy)

Crystal Clarity, Artist (Copy)

Dana Johnson, WE ACT for Environmental Justice (Copy)

Darryl Molina Sarmiento, Communities for a Better Environment (Copy)

Dwaign Tyndal, Alternatives for Community and Environment (Copy)

Dwayne Patterson, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation (Copy)

Eddie Bautista, NYC Environmental Justice Alliance (Copy)

Elizabeth Yeampierre, UPROSE (Copy)

Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome, White House Council on Environmental Quality (Copy)

Joel Towers, Tishman Environment and Design Center (Copy)

Jose Ortiz (Dr. Drum), Bomba Yo (Copy)

Kimberly Wasserman, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (Copy)

Dr. Kyle Whyte, Tishman Center for Social Justice and the Environment, University of Michigan (Copy)

Lee Jones, US Dept of Agriculture, Rural Partners Network (Copy)

Dr. Leonardo Figueroa Helland, Tishman Environment and Design Center (Copy)

Lisa Garcia, EPA (Copy)

Dr. Manuel Pastor, Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California (Copy)

Maria Lopez-Nunez, Ironbound Community Corporation (Copy)

Dr. Martha Matsuoka, Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College (Copy)

Melanie Allen, The Hive Fund (Copy)

Melissa Miles, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance (Copy)

Dr. Mia White, Tishman Environment and Design Center (Copy)

Dr. Nicky Sheats, Center for the Urban Environment, Kean University (Copy)

Dr. Olugbenga Ajilore, US Dept of Agriculture (Copy)

Dr. P. Qasimah Boston, Tallahassee Food Network, Golden Rod Consulting (Copy)

Peggy Shepard, WeAct for Environmental Justice (Copy)

Rahwa Ghirmatzion, PUSH Buffalo (Copy)

Rajasvini Bhansali, Solidaire Network and Solidaire Action (Copy)

Dr. Sacoby Wilson, Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice & Health at University of Maryland College Park (Copy)

Sheila Foster, Georgetown University, Columbia Climate School (Copy)

Stephanie Gidigbi Jenkins, Communities First Fund (Copy)

Terri Taylor, Lumina Foundation (Copy)

Chief Vincent Mann, Ramapough Lenape Nation (Copy)