SPECIAL KICKOFF EVENT SPONSORED BY THE
WOMEN”S FUND OF SOUTHEASTERN MA
Majora Carter, Van Jones, and Simran Sethi will be presenting
at a special Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change kick-off
event, to be held on the evening of Thursday, October 23rd.
The KickOff event is Free and Open to the Public on a first
come, first served basis.
WHEN: Doors open at 7:00 pm, event begins at 7:30 pm
Thursday Evening, October 23rd
WHERE: New Bedford’s Zeiterion Theatre
684 Purchase St.
New Bedford, MA 02740
Majora Carter
Majora Carter was born, raised, and continues to live and
work in the South Bronx. But her career has taken her around
the world in pursuit of resources and ideas to improve the
quality of life in her environmentally challenged community.
She founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001 after working
with other local groups—where she wrote a $1.25M Federal
Transportation grant to design the South Bronx Greenway with
11 miles of bike and pedestrian paths connecting the rivers
and neighborhoods to each other, and to the rest of the city.
That project secured over $20 million in funds to begin construction
in 2008.
She has been instrumental in creating riverfront parks, building
green roofs, working to remove the Sheridan Expressway in
favor of positive economic development, and successfully implemented
the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training (BEST) program—
a pioneering green-collar job training and placement system--
seeding her community with a skilled workforce that has both
a personal & economic stake in their urban environment.
These accomplishments grow from her notion that self-image
is influenced by surroundings—so those surroundings
should be beautiful! Her vision, drive, and tenacity earned
her a MacArthur "Genius" Grant. She started 2007
as one of Newsweek’s “25 To Watch”, ended
the year as one of Essence Magazine’s “25 most
Influential African Americans”, named one of the “50
most influential women in NYC” by the NY Post for the
past two years, and "NYC's most influential environmentalist"
by the BBC World Service, a board member of the Widerness
Society, and recording a special national public radio series
called “The Promised Land” for 2008 release.
Van Jones
Van Jones is the founder and president Green
For All, based in Oakland, California. The mission
is to help build an inclusive, green economy - strong enough
to lift millions of people out of poverty. Van is a tireless
advocate, championing "green-collar jobs and opportunities"
for disadvantaged people. He is committed to creating "green
pathways out of poverty," while greatly expanding the
coalition fighting global warming.
Van has worked to combine solutions to America's two biggest
problems: social inequality and environmental destruction.
Under the slogan "green-collar jobs, not jails,"
he is calling for green economic development in urban America.
Van has served on the boards of numerous national environmental
organizations. Presently, he is a board member of the National
Apollo Alliance, which advocates for clean energy jobs. He
is also a founding board member of 1Sky, a national coalition
working to avert catastrophic climate change.
At the national level, Van worked successfully in 2007 with
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA),
U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-MASS)
to pass the Green Jobs Act of 2007. That path-breaking, historic
legislation authorized $125 million in funding to train 35,000
people a year in "green-collar jobs."
Van is also a co-founder of a new national coalition that
promotes the idea of a national "Clean Energy Jobs Corps."
This multi-billion-dollar federal initiative would put hundreds
of thousands of people to work rewiring and retrofitting the
energy infrastructure of the United States.
In 1996, Van co-founded (with Diana Frappier) the Ella
Baker Center for Human Rights, now located in Oakland,
California. Named for an unsung civil rights heroine, the
award-winning Center promotes alternatives to violence and
incarceration. The Center, for which Van serves as board president,
incubated Green For All in 2007 and spun it off in 2008.
A 1993 Yale Law graduate, Van is also a husband and father.
He is proud to champion some of the most hopeful solutions
to America's toughest challenges.
Simran Sethi
Simran Sethi is the contributing environmental correspondent
for CNBC and the Lacy C. Haynes Visiting Professional Chair
at the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass
Communications, where she teaches courses on environmental
communications. Simran is writing a book on environmental
equity for Harper Collins and is the contributing author of
Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy, winner of the
bronze 2008 Axiom Award for Best Business Ethics book. She
is the co-host/ writer of Sundance Channel's environmental
programming The Green and the creator of the Sundance web
series The Good Fight, highlighting global environmental justice
efforts and grassroots activism.
Named one of the top ten eco-heroes of the planet by the UK's
Independent and lauded as the "environmental messenger"
by Vanity Fair, Simran is committed to a redefinition of environmentalism
that includes voices from the prairie, the inner-city and
the global community. She has contributed segments to Nightly
News with Brian Williams, the Today Show, the Oprah Winfrey
Show, the Ellen DeGeneres Show and the Martha Stewart Show.
She has been a featured guest on National Public Radio and
is the host of the Emmy-award winning PBS documentary "A
School in the Woods."
Simran holds a BA in Sociology and Women's Studies from Smith
College and an MBA in sustainable management from the Presidio
School of Management.
