Unsubscribe [1]

View in your browser [2]

CLIMATE JUSTICE ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES NEW TRIAD OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

CONTACT: OLIVIA BURLINGAME 301-613-4767 [email protected]

JULY 22, 2021 - Today, Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) officially welcomes
three experienced, dedicated and undeniably powerful women of color as
CJA’s Co-Executive Directors: Ozawa Bineshi Albert, Monica Atkins and
Marion Gee! All three have strong ties to CJA membership, and base-building
and community centered organizations working for a Just Transition
throughout Turtle Island (North America).

_“This is a pivotal moment for humanity as we face a climate crisis that
will soon be irreversible, riddled with record climate catastrophes,
increasingly devastating extreme weather events, and racist attacks on our
peoples. Our communities, those on the frontlines and those who for far too
long have been historically excluded, discriminated against and even
murdered, are fighting for our lives. We can not rely on the outdated and
often exclusionary model of individual leadership. Our movement has always
been leaderful and intergenerational. Today, we are proud to announce the
new executive team of CJA with these three impressive and committed women
who we know will rise to the occasion and support frontline, grassroots
leadership in healing our peoples and the planet.”__ - ELIZABETH
YEAMPIERRE & MATEO NUBE, CO-CHAIRS OF CJA_

OZAWA BINESHI ALBERT

_“There is nothing more important than instilling in society ways of
being that honor and respect the rights of Mother Earth. We must build the
new while also remembering the teachings of our ancestors who co-existed in
relationship with all in nature. I look forward to co-creating this vision
and strategy with the 74 CJA member organizations who lead us and who every
day are doing this transformative work on the ground.“ - BINESHI ALBERT_

Bineshi Albert grew up in the movement and remembers her family organizing
for community and Indigenous Rights throughout her upbringing. Her work
over the last 30 years has primarily focused on environmental justice and
Native/Indigenous rights. She has also been part of many pivotal movement
building and multicultural spaces throughout her career. She joins CJA from
one of our founding member organizations, the Indigenous Environmental
Network (IEN). In fact, she was a founding board member of IEN, served on
their three person Leadership Team alongside the Executive Director and was
their Movement Building Coordinator and Co-Coordinator for Indigenous
Feminisms. She is proud to have contributed to the work of It Takes Roots,
the Rising Majority and international movement spaces. While at IEN,
Bineshi supported the creation and development of both an Indigenous
Feminist Organizing School and an International Feminist Organizing School.
Before that, she held many positions including the Interim Co-Director at
SAGE Council, one of the founders of the Native American Voters Alliance;
Regional Director (West) for the Center for Community Change, Co-Director
of the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP), and she served as a lobbyist
for a number of initiatives including Strong Families in New Mexico.
Bineshi began her organizing work with the Coalition for the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples and Native Lands’ Toxics Campaign at Greenpeace. She
holds a degree in Indigenous Liberal Studies from the Institute of American
Indian Art with minors in Performing Arts and Creative Writing. She is the
proud mother of three: a daughter and two sons, and recently became a
grandmother. She makes her home in relocated Yuchi & Muscogee territory in
Oklahoma, also known as Tulsa.

MONICA ATKINS

_“It is an honor to Implement the vision of grassroots communities to
build translocal organizing strategies at such a pivotal moment, when we
must show the utility and strength of community controlled regenerative
energy models! I’m excited to support our members and movement in
building power, growth, and just and sustainable communities.”_ _- MONICA
ATKINS _

Monica Atkins began her journey with CJA as our Southeast Regional
Organizer in 2017 through Cooperation Jackson. She then moved on to become
CJA’s National Organizer and Co-Coordinator until finally in 2020 she
became the Organizing Director & part of the organizations’ interim
leadership structure. With the support of members, Monica has supported the
Our Power Communities expansion from 7 to 34 active communities working
toward a Just Transition and building regenerative economies through
translocal organizing. She has also been critical to the success and
operation of CJA’s Black Caucus organizing. Before joining CJA she was
and continues to be an active member of Cooperation Jackson in Jackson,
Mississippi and organized social and cultural events and actions including
Art, Poetry, and Justice Slam; Freedom Summer March; and March on
Mississippi For Workers’ Rights with artists and activists such as Common
and Danny Glover. Monica also worked for several labor organizations
including the United Auto Workers, American Federation of Teachers, and
Communication Workers of America. She is a Chicago native and graduate of
Jackson State University where she completed a Bachelor’s degree in
English with an emphasis in Journalism. A poet and activist at heart,
Monica’s passion for the arts has led her to organizing workers and
communities through cultural organizing and base-building for more than 10
years.

MARION GEE

_“Ensuring that frontline communities’ expertise in fighting for
justice and solving the root causes of the climate crisis is honored,
centered, and resourced at scale has been central to the work I have
supported at CJA. I am excited to help chart a course forward that
continues to resource and scale the work of the frontlines who are creating
the visionary solutions our communities need.” - MARION GEE_

Marion Gee grew up in Southern California, watching her aunt stand with
striking workers as a labor attorney and acting as a bridge between sets of
grandparents who came from very different cultures, world views, and
upbringings - from small villages alongside rice paddies in Southern China
to the rural farms surrounding Bridgeton, New Jersey. As the Managing
Director at Climate Justice Alliance since 2015, she supported the
Executive Director and Board in expanding staff from seven to twenty-one,
increasing the budget from $1 to $5 million, and developing the systems and
staffing to implement an ambitious Four Year Strategy. Prior to joining
CJA, she served as a fundraising, events, and communications consultant for
social and environmental justice organizations, the Development &
Communications Director at Rose Foundation, and Interim Climate Program
Director at Sierra Nevada Alliance. She holds a Masters in Environmental
History and Policy from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. In her
spare time, she likes to read fantasy novels, collect too many indoor
plants, and play with her niece and nephew.

CLIMATE JUSTICE ALLIANCE is a member-led organization of 74 urban and rural
frontline communities, organizations and support networks in the climate
justice movement. We work to build real solutions to the climate crisis
through building local, living, regenerative economies while pushing back
against false promises from corporate controlled interests.

###

Climate Justice Alliance

PO BOX 10202
Berkeley, CA 94709
United States


Unsubscribe [3] | Opt out of all bulk emails [4]

[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]



Links:
------
[1] /[link removed]
[2] /[link removed]
[3] [link removed]
[4] [link removed]
[5] [link removed]
[6] [link removed]
[7] [link removed]
[8] [link removed]
[9] [link removed]
[10] [link removed]