Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-jwnkl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T03:35:33.772Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

COMMENTARY: Increasing Diversity of Leadership in Environmental Nonprofit Organizations in a Major Brownfield City: Phase 1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2009

Lynda Jeffries  and
Ted Amsden
Lynda Jeffries*
Affiliation:
The Leadership Group LLC, Novi Michigan, Detroit, Michigan
Ted Amsden
Affiliation:
The Leadership Group LLC, Novi Michigan, Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan
*
Address correspondence to: Lynda Jeffries, Senior Consultant, The Leadership Group LLC, Novi Michigan, 834 Seville Row, Detroit, MI 48202; (phone) 313-872-6339; (fax) 313-872-6448; (email) Ljeffries2@prodigy.net
Get access

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the effort sponsored by the Genesee County Parks and Recreation Commission in Michigan to “develop [and implement] a vision and plan for increased diversity and inclusion of the broader community in conservation initiatives.” Genesee County includes the city of Flint, Michigan, which has the largest brownfield site in the United States from the closing of General Motors Corporation facilities. Flint has a predominantly African American population surrounded by predominantly white suburban and rural areas. The first phase of this project focused on understanding differences of awareness, understanding, and perception about environmental and conservation issues through structured interviews of 23 diverse community leaders. Themes from the interviews included emphasis on different environmental issues, with people of color focusing on environmental challenges in their neighborhoods. Perceptions of people of color about local environmental organizations ranged from uncommunicative and uninvolved in environmental issues affecting people of color to elitist and exclusionary. Themes also included an interest by people of color community leaders in environmental issues and willingness to serve or recommend others to serve on boards of local environmental organizations. The failure to provide opportunities and guidance for youth of color about environmental careers was also a theme.

Environmental Practice 11:164–169 (2009)

Type
FEATURES
Information
Environmental Practice , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , September 2009 , pp. 164 - 169
Copyright
Copyright © National Association of Environmental Professionals 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bonta, M., and Jordan, C.. 2005. Diversifying the Conservation Movement. Center for Diversity & the Environment, Portland, OR, 14 pp. Available at http://www.environmentaldiversity.org/documents/diversifying_conservation.pdf (accessed January 6, 2009)Google Scholar
Bonta, M., and Jordan, C.. 2007. Diversifying the American Environmental Movement. In Diversity and the Future of the U.S. Environmental Movement, Enderle, E., ed. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT, 13–33. Available at Yale RIS, http://www.environment.yale.edu/news/5175 (accessed January 6, 2009)Google Scholar
Enderle, E. 2007. Framing the Discussion. In Diversity and the Future of the U.S. Environmental Movement, Enderle, E., ed. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT, 5–12. Available at Yale RIS, http://www.environment.yale.edu/news/5175 (accessed February 3, 2009)Google Scholar
Rhodes, E. 2003. Environmental Justice in America. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 296 pp.Google Scholar
Stanton, R. 2005. Cultural Diversity in Conservation Organizations and Programs. National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE), Washington, DC, 42 pp. Available at http://ncseonline.org/Conference/Biodiversity/Resources/Workshop%209/Stanton,%20Post%20Survey%20Follow-up,%202005.pdf (accessed February 3, 2009)Google Scholar