Gabriela V. Rodriguez

From Miami, Florida, Gabriela Rodriguez (she/her/ella) is a first-year Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of The Environment specializing in People, Equity, and the Environment. Gabriela holds a strong passion for environmental and climate justice, engagement, and education. She is interested in how communities can best center social equity and advance procedural justice in their approaches to climate change, mainly through strategies for equitable engagement and participation in decision-making and development processes.

As a Community Resource Lab Fellow at YCEJ, Gabriela is working with the City of New Haven’s City Plan Department to support their community engagement efforts by creating a comprehensive inventory of community-based organizations across New Haven that would inform City Plan’s strategic outreach for environmental and climate-related planning processes. Through interviews with local leaders, Gabriela is helping City Plan better understand the needs of organizations and strengthen relationships. As a Communications and Events Associate, she is also helping with the center’s many communications efforts and event planning and promotion. 

Before YCEJ, Gabriela was a Program Coordinator at The CLEO Institute, a Florida-based non-profit organization focused on climate change education and advocacy. Through her work, she helped bring climate change education and advocacy programs to students and teachers across Miami-Dade County’s frontline communities. She was also an active organizer in Miami’s climate justice movement and continues to stay connected. In 2017, Gabriela recieved her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability and the Environment with a minor in Communication Studies from Florida International University.