ELP's Mission

The Environmental Leadership Program inspires visionary, action oriented and diverse leadership to work for a just and sustainable future.

ELP's primary goal is to train and support the next generation of environmental leaders. We define emerging leaders as newly established environmental practitioners with fewer than 10 years of experience in the field. ELP's Regional Networks enable us to build on our national fellowship to serve a broader constituency of emerging environmental leaders and spark new ideas and solutions to pressing environmental problems in regions across the country.

Recognizing that every sector plays a critical role in environmental progress, ELP recruits participants for its programs from across the field, including nonprofits, academia, government, and the private sector. ELP also strives to create a community comprised of individuals from different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds and to work with emerging leaders who can strengthen partnerships with public health, religious, labor, and civil rights organizations. Nearly fifty percent of the ELP fellows are people of color.

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PROJECT DETAILS

In 2004, ELP brought its unique approach to leadership development from its flagship national fellowship program by expanding the ELP community and launching the ELP Delware Valley Regional Network. Delaware Valley was the first area selected for our Regional Fellowship Program model. Since that time ELP has established two additional regional networks: the New England Regional Network (2006) and the Southeast Regional Network (2007). This year ELP has expanded the New England Regional Network to include all states in New England: CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, and VT. The new region is now referred to as the New England Regional Network. As a national non-profit, ELP plans to establish regional networks across the country to connect, train, and support up-and-coming environmental leaders to build the capacity of each region's environmental community and its professionals, volunteers, and institutions. Through regional networks, emerging leaders from business, government, higher education, and non-profit sectors will bring their diverse issue expertise to create new relationships, forge collaborations, and advance their individual and collective skills and leadership. Emerging leaders (with fewer than 10 years of experience in the environmental field) were selected as ELP Regional Fellows to receive targeted leadership development and skill training.

In 2006, ELP launched the New England Regional Network to develop local emerging leaders and strengthen environmental efforts from center city neighborhoods and the suburbs to rural areas in New England. Now in 2008, emerging leaders throughout New England have new opportunities to develop their skills, build alliances among organizations, and spur diverse, more comprehensive, approaches to environmental work across the region.

Through the New England Regional Network, ELP:

• Selects emerging leaders as ELP Regional Fellows who participate in community building, skill training, and professional development through our Regional Fellowship Program for Emerging Leaders.
• Sponsors networking events to bring together environmental professionals and volunteers across the region.
• Convenes Regional Issues Forums to discuss key environmental issues facing New England.

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ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Julian Agyeman, Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University
Julian is associate professor of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University in Boston, MA. Julian is a biogeographer turned environmental social scientist, which helps frame his perspectives, research and scholarship. As an academic, activist and practitioner, he has taught in high school and in universities in England and has worked as an environmental education and policy adviser in the non-profit sector and in local government in two London Boroughs. He was co-founder in 1987, and chair until 1994, of the Black Environment Network (BEN), the first environmental justice-based organization of its kind in Britain. He ran his own consulting firm which specialized in communicating environmental and sustainable solutions to local governments, not-for-profit organizations and businesses between 1992-1998. In 1998, he left Britain for the USA.

John Anderson, Director of Education, New England Aquarium
John Anderson is the director of education at the New England Aquarium, where he develops programs to engage the public in learning about connections between people and aquatic ecosystems, with the goal of helping individuals make choices and take action. His recent projects include development of an exhibit about mercury pollution and pollution prevention and an exhibit about electricity choices. John also coordinates the New England Science Center Collaborative's Meet the Scientists program, that brings together scientists and educators to focus on climate change issues. John is the co-chair of the Boston Climate Action Network, a local citizens group that works to encourage municipal policies to reduce emissions of climate changing gases.

Saulo Araújo, Global Program Assistant, Grassroots International
Saulo Araújo is an ELP New England Senior Fellow and has dedicated himself to working for the resource rights of rural and urban communities in Brazil, Mexico and the U.S. In his native country of Brazil, Saulo worked with rural communities in the arid northeast region to develop sustainable water sources and protect local genetic materials. He also worked with water management programs in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. In New England, he has worked with environmental justice groups in inner city neighborhoods, supporting the work of residents to protect open and green spaces, food security and environmental health. Currently, Saulo is a board member of two community-based organizations in Central Massachusetts--Worcester Roots Project and Worcester Earn-a-Bike--and is a member of the Grant-making Committee of the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund (NEGEF). Saulo has a Master's Degree in International Development and Social Change from Clark University.

Melissa Bailey, PhD Student, Agriculture, Food and Environment Program, Tufts University
Melissa Bailey is an ELP New England Senior Fellow, currently pursuing her PhD at Tufts in livestock production systems and their impact on the health of water, people and animals located near farm operations. As a "Water and Health" doctoral trainee fellow through the National Institute of Health (NIH) and a candidate to receive a Water: Systems, Science and Society (WSSS) Certificate through Tufts, Melissa is working to integrate the environmental health and agricultural aspects of water science and policy. Her academics have focused her efforts both domestically and in the Central American region through work on watershed assessments and management projects. In addition to academics, Melissa heads up an outreach organization (FEAST: Food Education and Action for Sustainability at Tufts) and is a part-time research analyst for SJH Inc., a Boston-based agribusiness consulting firm.

Mark Barnett, Associate and Co-Chair of Energy Technology & Renewables Group, Foley Hoag LLP
Mark Barnett is an Associate in the Business Department and the Co-Chair of the Energy Technology & Renewables Group of Foley Hoag LLP, a leading Boston law firm, where he primarily counsels companies developing renewable energy technologies and projects. Mark also is a board member of The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), the Northeast's leading organization of professionals working in sustainable energy, whole systems thinking and green technologies. In addition, Mark provides counsel to a number of non-profit organizations working on energy and environmental issues. Prior to joining Foley Hoag, Mark served as Counsel to the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, a quasi-public agency investing in clean energy projects, technologies and education. Mark received his J.D. from Yale Law School and has over ten years of experience advising and helping to develop clean technology ventures and environmental policy initiatives.

David Cash, Assistant Secretary of Policy, Executive Office for Energy and Environmental Affairs
David Cash is the Assistant Secretary of Policy in the Executive Office for Energy and Environmental Affairs, where he works on the development of policy initiatives across environmental and energy domains. Previously David was director of air policy for the State of Massachusetts, where he developed strategic air quality agendas for a wide array of air-related issues including mobile, stationary and area sources and local, regional, national and global air quality. David was also a fellow in Harvard University's Global Environmental Assessment Project and Sustainability Systems Project, researching the links between scientific assessment of global environmental risks and local decision making and environmental risk management. He has collaborated with the U.S. Global Change Research Program and Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Center for Environmental Decision-making Research, and the U.N. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Before that, David taught high school and middle school biology, chemistry, and environmental science.

Patricia Gray, Senior Advisor, The Food Project
Patricia Donahue Gray is the Senior Advisor for The Food Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating personal and social change through sustainable agriculture. As a founding staff member of The Food Project, Patricia held leadership positions there as Co-Director and Executive Director. Patricia brought extensive experience in grassroots political organizing and teaching to the organization, developing a national model of youth engagement in local food systems work. This model includes leadership, communication, and job skills development through hands on agricultural and food enterprise experience. Core to the model is the bridging of city and suburbs, race and class, so that all people will be involved in creating a more sustainable and healthier food supply. Patricia earned her B.A. in Education and a Graduate Certificate in "Women in Politics and Government" from Boston College. Previously, Patricia served on the boards of Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and the Community Food Security Coalition. She is an advisory board member of the Trust for Public Land in Massachusetts.

Omay Elphick, Deputy Director, Energy Consumer Alliance of New England
Omay Elphick is an ELP New England Senior Fellow and Deputy Director at the Energy Consumer Alliance of New England's Rhode Island office. Previously as policy specialist at Save the Bay, Omay researched the brownfield regulatory landscape and developed recommendations for improving the redevelopment process for coastal brownfields in Rhode Island. Omay also oversaw construction of the Save the Bay Center, a "green" educational and administrative building. He has over ten years of experience working with various nonprofit organizations in education, fundraising, strategic partnering and strategic business planning. Before joining Save the Bay, Omay was a Senior Analyst and Nonprofit Consultant at a private branding and business consulting firm in Boulder, Colorado. His ongoing volunteer efforts include the creation of an after-school wooden boat building program for fifth graders at an urban public school.

James Hoyte, Assistant of the President and Lecturer on Environmental Science and Public Policy, Harvard University
James Hoyte is Assistant to the President of Harvard University and Lecturer on Environmental Science and Public Policy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. An attorney and specialist in public policy, he received his BA from Harvard College and JD from Harvard Law School. He later completed the Program in Management Development (PMD) at the Harvard Business School and the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at the Kennedy School. From 1969 to 1975, and again from 1979 to 1983, he was a senior consultant and executive at Arthur D. Little, Inc. Beginning in 1983 and extending through 1988, Hoyte served as Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs, with responsibility for the planning and management of all environmental and natural resource conservation policies and programs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He has published articles in the fields of environmental policy and management and serves on the boards of directors of numerous environmental and civic organizations.

Penn Loh, Executive Director, Alternatives for Community and Environment
Penn Loh is executive director of Alternatives for Community & Environment, a community-based environmental justice law and education center that provides legal and technical assistance, educational programs, and organizing support to groups in low income and people of color neighborhoods throughout New England. Formerly, Penn served as research associate at the Pacific Institute, where he directed a project on California water transfers and developed a new program, Community Strategies for Sustainability and Environmental Justice. Penn co-authored the Pacific Institute's report California Water 2020: A Sustainable Vision.

Charlie Lord, Executive Director, Urban Ecology Institute
Charlie Lord is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. After clerking on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, he founded Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), an environmental justice center based in Roxbury and served on ACE’s Board until 2004. He taught environmental law and policy and environmental legal history at Boston College Law School from 1993-1998 and is now a lecturer in the Environmental Studies Program at Boston College. He is also on the boards of directors for the Community Rights Council in Washington, D.C. He has published numerous articles on environmental law, environmental justice and environmental policy.

Anne Ogilvie, Program Manager for Earth and Marine Sciences, Earthwatch Institute
Anne Ogilvie is an ELP New England Senior Fellow and the Program Manager for Earth and Marine Sciences at Earthwatch Institute. Anne collaborates with scientists engaged in international fieldwork to provide volunteers the opportunity to participate in and support scientific field research. Previously Anne has taught and managed hands-on marine science education programs in field and community settings and from ships at sea. Her work has taken her from southern California to coastal Maine through positions with the Catalina Island Marine Institute, the Sea Education Association, and the New England Aquarium.

Cathleen Douglas Stone, Special Assistant, Boston Mayor's Office
Cathleen Stone is Special Assistant to the Boston Mayor Thomas Menino for environmental affairs. She is also a member of the Board of Commissioners. Previously, Cathleen was appointed the City's first Chief of Environmental Services and served in this position until 1997. As Chief of Environmental Services, Ms. Stone directed the Mayor's Environmental Cabinet. Prior to her tenure as the Chief of Environmental Services, Ms. Stone was of counsel and a partner of the Boston Law firm Foley, Hoag & Eliot where her practice encompassed environmental and administrative law issues. Ms. Stone also serves as a Board Member of the American Conservation Society and the Boston Public Library Foundation. She holds a LLM from Georgetown University and a J.D. and B.A. from American University. Recently Cathleen Stone received the "Eleanor Roosevelt: Following in her Footsteps" award, in recognition of her more than three decades of dedication to the environment.

Ami Zota, Research Fellow, Silent Spring Institute and Harvard School of Public Health
Dr. Zota recently completed her doctorate in Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. Ami's research examines sources and exposure pathways of outdoor and indoor pollutants within environmental justice communities. Her current work focuses on: cumulative impacts of pollutant mixtures, children's environmental health, interactions between social and environmental stressors, and novel methods for assessing exposures to environmental contaminants. Ami is committed to conducting socially-responsible research and advancing community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods. Her dissertation research used environmental sampling and GIS modeling to determine how pregnant women and children living near the Tar Creek Superfund site were being exposed to mining-related pollutants. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Silent Spring Institute, a research institute that focuses on environmental links and women's health, where she is examining sources and cumulative impacts of endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) in a fence-line, environmental justice community. Ami is also a former Schweitzer and Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) National Fellow.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

FOUNDATION SUPPORT

It is with the generosity of several individual donors and foundations that the New England Regional Network continues to prosper, including the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

INDIVIDUAL DONORS

Invest in New England's next generation of environmental leaders! Make a gift online through our secure online donation page or mail your tax-deductible contribution to:

 Environmental Leadership Program
 1609 Connecticut Ave, NW 
 Suite 400 
 Washington, DC 20009

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