Spring 2022 Yale Energy Justice Speaker Series: Community Advocacy and Organizing – Denise Abdul-Rahman, NAACP Environmental Climate Justice Team
Event sponsored by Yale Center for Environmental Justice (YCEJ), Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY)
Event time
Monday, February 21, 2022 - 2:30pmLocation
Online Event
As part of the Spring 2022 Yale Energy Justice Speaker Series hosted by the Yale Center for Environmental Justice (YCEJ) and the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY), join us Monday, February 21 at 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm EST for a lecture by Denise Abdul-Rahman, of the NAACP Environmental Climate Justice Team, titled “Community Advocacy and Organizing”. Related readings for this talk are available below. Register here: https://yale.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CDGme6PBRRCPRhdQ9Py01Q.
Denise Abdul-Rahman is a staff member of the National NAACP Environmental Climate Justice Program (ECJP), as the Regional Field Organizer for the Midwest and Plain States and serves as the Environmental Climate Justice Chair of the Indiana State Conference of the NAACP. She employs the program’s three objectives: Reduce Harmful Emissions, Particularly Greenhouse Gases; Advance Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy; and Strengthen Community Resistance and Livability.
Denise holds a BS in management, an MBA in healthcare management, and a health informatics designation from Indiana University School of Informatics.
Her accomplishments include organizing over 85 attendees, representing several organizations across the Midwest to the United States EPA, Region V to present the “Our Power Plan,” as well as organizing the “Just Energy” Campaign. Denise called for Indianapolis Power Light to stop burning coal by 2016 and the plant stopped February 2016, and she led a contingent that was crucial to the defeat of House Bill 1320, a bill that sought to depict a narrative that ‘solar was unfair to people of color/African Americans and therefore a fee to distribute energy across the grid should be enforced to make it fair for all. The “Just Energy’ Campaign solidified the defeat and the victory rose to national coverage with LA Times and Bloomberg News.
Readings
- Energy News Network, “For Indiana NAACP, energy justice has long been a civil rights issue.” https://energynews.us/2020/01/14/for-indiana-naacp-energy-justice-has-long-been-a-civil-rights-issue/
- IndyStar, “Op-ed: Indiana could get millions for climate issues. Here’s where the money should go.” https://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/2022/01/04/indiana-black-communities-need-environmental-justice-funds/8895654002/
- Optional: NAACP, Just Energy Reducing Pollution and Creating Jobs Toolkit: https://naacp.org/resources/just-energy-reducing-pollution-creating-jobs-toolkit
The Yale Center for Environmental Justice (YCEJ) and the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY) are joining forces in an effort to raise awareness on energy justice and bring the voices of experts in the field to the public. Join us on Mondays at 2:30 pm EST for this public speaker series exploring the multifaceted and exciting role of justice in the clean energy transition! Register for all or part of the series here: https://yale.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CDGme6PBRRCPRhdQ9Py01Q.