Thriving Earth Exchange is excited to announce the September 2024 launch of community leaders! They will work with Community Science Fellows to launch 22 community science projects in the United States and Mexico.
We are proud to recognize our four Hub partners—Capacity Collaborative, Creation Justice Ministries, and Kansas State Center for Hazardous Substances Research (CHSR) —whose support has been essential in fostering community engagement and scientific collaboration.
Stay tuned for more information about the inspiring communities involved and the transformative projects to come!
Shiprock, NM (Navajo Nation)
Community Lead Name: Lisa Renner
Affiliation: Community School Coordinator; Central Consolidated Schools
Biography:
Lisa Renner believes in the power of learning in place and project-based learning. She is the Community School Coordinator in Shiprock, NM, and is working to build a community of trust and partnership with families, schools, agencies, and businesses. She envisions a garden at every school to provide food for both the mind and body.
Cleveland, OH (Collective Citizens Organized Against Lead)
Community Lead Name: Robin Brown
Affiliation: Collective Citizens Organized Against Lead (CCOAL)
Biography:
As Founder and CEO of Collective Citizens Organized Against Lead (CCOAL), formerly Concerned Citizens Organized Against Lead. Robin is a parent whose adult child was severely poisoned by localized lead exposure. Due to this, she is passionate about the importance of this work due to her own personal experience. For the past couple of decades, Robin has devoted her personal and professional energy to helping organizations and agencies develop programs to meet community needs for lead remediation and lead poisoning interventions.
Robin, through the C.C.O.A.L. organization has successfully developed collaborative partnerships and relationships with stakeholders throughout Cleveland and nationally. As a keynote speaker and subject matter expert, Robin has presented to national, state, and local organizations. Robin also spoke and engaged with graduate students at Cleveland State University under Professor Jemekica Holloway on lead and its impacts on historically marginalized communities. Robin has worked with undergraduate students to actively support research on the disproportionate levels of lead poisoning in underserved communities and its connections to redlining
Charleston, WV (Aspire Achievement Project)
Community Lead Name: Octavia Cordon
Affiliation: Community Advocate, Executive Director – Aspire Achievement Project
Biography:
Octavia Cordon w
as born and raised in New York City and later migrated to Charleston, West Virginia approximately 20 years ago. She is a mother of 4, friend to many and a community advocate. She owns her own business, Phat Daddy’s, Walk by Faith Moving Services and runs a non-profit called ASPIRE.
Octavia has spent the last decade of her career working in education, early intervention, and community outreach. Coming
from a big city like New York, her goal was to bring her family to a new environment that would offer a safer alternative to what she experienced in NYC. West Virginia offered a slower pace her family was looking for to raise her babies at the time.
Since moving to West Virginia, Octavia has volunteered in many spaces as well as served on many boards including KCS Pre-K. She has obtained her Regents Bachelor of Arts degree from WVSU, master’s in organizational management from Ashford University and Doctorate in Education, Specialization in Curriculum & Instruction from Capella University.
South Burlington, VT
Community Lead Name: Mona Tolba
Affiliation: Trusted community voice
Biography:
My name is Mona Tolba. I am from Egypt. I speak Arabic and English. I hold a Ph.D in Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt and another one in Food science, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, I work at the Vermont Department of Health. My passion is advocating and connecting my community to resources.
St. Louis, Missouri (Lewis Place neighborhood)
Community Lead Name: Pamela Talley
Affiliation: Executive Director of Lewis Place Historical Preservation Inc
Biography:
I am Pamela Talley, a doctoral-prepared nurse practitioner passionate about caring for individuals and families in their homes and communities. I have assisted with establishing community gardens and urban farms throughout St. Louis to address the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in food deserts. Since 2009, I have served as the President of the Lewis Place Historical Preservation, a non-profit community development corporation founded in 2000 to help save the historic community from the devastating consequences of redlining. Under my leadership, the board has established partnerships and collaborations to build an influential community.
Chiltoyac, México
Community Lead Name: Luis Angel Hernández Amezcua
Affiliation: Community Member of Chiltoyac and full-time student studying historical anthropology at the faculty of Anthropology and the University of Veracruzana in México
Biografía:
(SPN): Actualmente resido en la ciudad de Xalapa, Veracruz, estudio la carrera de antropología histórica en la universidad veracruzana, en 2023 formé parte como becario de un proyecto llamado “Memoria ciudadana del río Sedeño” donde el propósito era hacer un diagnóstico para ver en que lugares era posible replicar algunas alternativas para el saneamiento de los ríos, la investigación que me encuentro realizando se trata de analizar el proceso de cambio en la vida cotidiana de las personas de Chiltoyac con base a las prácticas que se realizaban en los ríos.
(ENG): Currently, Luis lives in the city of Xapala, Veracruz, Mexico and studies historical anthropology at the Universidad de Veracruz. In 2023, he started his fellowship with a project called “Memoria ciudadana del rió Sedeño (“Citizen Memory of the Sedeño River”) where the purpose was to make an assessment to see which places it was possible to replicate some solutions for the sanitation of the rivers. Now, he’s continuing this research by bringing it to the Thriving Earth Exchange program where the research focuses on analyzing the process of change in the daily lives of people of Chiltoyac based on the practices that were carried out in the rivers.
Detroit, MI (Nazarene Baptist Church, North End)
Community Lead Name: Kevin Harris (Senior Pastor), Pamela Ruffins
Affiliation: Nazarene Baptist Church – North End
Biography:
Coming Soon
Tampa, FL (Florida Council of Churches)
Community Lead Name: Rev. Dr. Russell Meyer
Affiliation: Executive Director, Florida Council of Churches
Biography:
The Rev. Dr. Russell L. Meyer ([email protected]) is the Executive Director of the Florida Council of Churches and is convener of the Florida Interfaith Climate Actions Network. He is active in state and national climate and moral policy movements. His academic work applies social field theory to generate conversation among heterogeneous groups that leads to new collaborative action.
North River, NC
Community Lead Name: Lisa Rider
Affiliation: Executive Director / Coastal Carolina Riverwatch
Biography:
Lisa Rider is the Executive Director of Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, where she has been a dedicated advocate for clean water and environmental justice for over five years. As a lifelong resident of coastal North Carolina, Lisa has made it her mission to protect both the quality of water and the quality of life in the region’s communities. With over 20 years of background in local government and nonprofit management, she leads initiatives that address pressing issues such as integrated solid waste management and industrial impacts on water quality and fisheries. Lisa is passionate about fostering the next generation of environmental advocates and is deeply committed to ensuring a resilient future for all of North Carolina’s coastal ecosystems and communities. Learn more at www.coastalcarolinariverwatch.org
Aurora, WV
Community Lead Name: Deacon Mary Sanders
Affiliation: Executive Director, Community Lutheran Partners (we serve all of WV and Garrett County MD)
Biography:
I am Deacon Mary Sanders and I serve as a minister of word and service in WV and western MD. Prior to seminary, I served as an environmental inspector for the WVDEP. My sense of call is to serve the people and environment of Appalachia. I live on my great grandma’s farm with two dogs and two cats and am surreptitiously planting a food forest around my cabin.
Cameron, LA (Louisiana Small-scale rural fishing community)
Community Lead Names: Misha Mayeur (Communications and Storytelling Director), Robyn Bauer-Thigpen (Environmental Integrity Enforcer), Alyssa Portaro (Director of Strategy, FISH – Fishermen Involved in Sustaining our Heritage)
Affiliation: Habitat Recovery Project
Biography: Habitat Recovery Project is a community-focused conservation movement dedicated to restoring, generating, and preserving ecological habitats in existing and proposed contaminated communities, through supporting and benefiting the people and emerging grassroots initiatives that reside within them.
Springfield Township, PA
Community Lead Name: Lorna Yearwood
Affiliation: Supervisor, Springfield Township, Bucks County, PA
Biography:
I am the owner of an urban style farm in Springtown, Bucks County, PA, where I grow groovy salad greens for local residents. Previously, I was an environmental consultant working with small and large businesses and institutions. I have been a community environmental “activist” for many years – I founded the Rochester Green Business Network, played a leadership role in the Lehigh Valley Green Building Expo and was the Chair/Member of the Township Environmental Advisory Council for 10 years before being elected to be a Township Supervisor in 2023.
Soacha, Colombia
Community Lead Name: Alejandro Giraldo Mora
Afiliation: Chair and Head of “Grupo de Investigación Quimera” (CNA)
Biography:
(SPN): Alejandro es licenciado en Biología con énfasis en Ecología de la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional de Colombia. También obtiene una maestría en Docencia de Química de la misma casa académica. Alejandro se especializa en los estudios investigativos propios de la ecología, la biodiversidad, el quiróptero fauna, la educación ambiental, la investigación educativa y la didáctica de las ciencias. Alejandro ha publicado en varios artículos de investigación en las ramas mencionadas y ha escrito conjuntamente tres obras literarias con la Universidad Sur Colombiana de Neiva, la Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, y la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. Actualmente se encarga de la cátedra en ciencias y está a la cabeza del Grupo de Investigación Quimera del CNA en el municipio de Soacha, Cundinamarca, Colombia, donde se adelantan trabajos de investigación en contexto en la comunidad.
(ENG): Alejandro has a degree in Biology with an emphasis in Ecology from the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional de Colombia. He also obtained a master’s degree in chemistry education from the same university. Alejandro specializes in research studies focused on ecology, biodiversity, mammal research, environmental education educational research and science didactics. Alejandro has published several research articles and has co-authored 3 literary works with the Universidad Sur Colombiana de Neiva, the Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, and the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. He is currently in the Chair and Head of CNA’s Chimera Research Group in the autonomous municipality of the department of Cundinamarca in Colombia, where his research is focused on the community.
