Denise Abdul-Rahman (NAACP Environmental Climate Justice Team), “Community Advocacy and Organizing” (Yale Center for Business and the Environment)

Event time: 
Monday, February 21, 2022 - 2:30pm to 3:30pm
Event description: 

This lecture is part of the Yale Energy Justice Speaker Series and will be led by Denise Abdul-Rahman, Regional Field Organizer, NAACP Environmental Climate Justice Team.

Denise Abdul-Rahman is an Energy Democracy Fellow at 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

Click here to register for the online Zoom event. 

Admission: 
Free but register in advance
Open to: 
General Public