PEOPLE, PLACE AND PERSPECTIVE: Building Connections Between DEQ and the Communities We Serve
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Welcome
The Department of Environmental Quality’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee welcomes you to this professional development opportunity highlighting successful community partnerships that demonstrate how diversity and inclusion can improve the work we do at DEQ.
We are pleased to have a panel of professionals who will discuss how their experience working with communities on environmental issues has led to successful collaborations. They will provide their perspectives on how diversity and inclusion within an organization can help us better serve all of North Carolina. We will provide time for a Q&A with our guest panel members.
Purpose
Many of the department’s employees work within communities throughout North Carolina to solve environmental problems. We hope this panel discussion will help us meet the following goals:
• Generate a conversation about the importance of having a diverse and inclusive organization when working with communities, especially in a regulatory or environmental management capacity.
• Demonstrate how people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives can strengthen an organization’s work by creating a broader viewpoint through shared values and a shared vision.
• Highlight successful models of organizations, agencies and people who have worked with underserved communities affected by environmental issues.
• Develop ideas to improve the effectiveness of NCDEQ’s work in underserved communities.
• Provide advice for DEQ staff working with communities affected by environmental justice issues.
Kelsi Dew, Historical Outreach Coordinator, Town of Princeville
Kelsi Dew is a Princeville resident, serves as the Historical Outreach Coordinator for the Town of Princeville, and is a former AmeriCorps Member through the Conservation Trust For North Carolina. Kelsi owns a small urban homestead in Princeville, where she ties her love of history, conservation, and agriculture into one space that promotes backyard food production and food sustainability.
Mary Alice Holley, Director of Community Innovation, Conservation Trust for North Carolina
Mary Alice liaises with CTNC's staff, board, and partners to ensure the organization advances its mission to build resilient, just communities for all North Carolinians. Before joining CTNC, Mary Alice supported conservation organizations throughout the state in building smart communication strategies that better connect supporters to their missions. She holds a B.A. in mass communications and rhetorical writing from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. In her spare time, you'll find Mary Alice on the water exploring hidden treasures from her kayak or in the garden where she's expanding her family's homestead to include 13 chickens, raised garden beds, and a few beehives.
Andria Knight, EEO and Inclusion Manager, Division of Human Resources, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Andria Knight is the EEO and Inclusion Manager for the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). In this role, she serves as the agency’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Officer and ADA Coordinator, and conducts discrimination complaint investigations. Andria also manages the internal diversity and inclusion program for the department and co-chairs the Secretary’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. She has been with DEQ since September 2017.
Dr. Glenda Knight, Town Manager, Town of Princeville
Dr. Knight is a lifelong resident of Edgecombe County, with 15 years as a Princeville resident. Knight served as Mayor Pro Tem for one year, representing Ward 4, before resigning to serve as Interim Town Manager. To this position, Knight brings over 20 years of organizational management, economic development, administration oversight, budget management and personnel leadership. Beyond her career obligations, Knight has over 25 years of community outreach advocacy in Edgecombe County where she has established solid trusting relationships with citizens, government and local entities. Knight is married to Ricky Knight and to this union is a beautiful blended family.
Rona Koball, Co-founder of the Environmental Justice Journalism Institute, Baltimore MD
Rona Kobell is the co-founder of the Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative. She has covered the Chesapeake Bay and its people for 18 years, beginning at The Baltimore Sun, then at the Chesapeake Bay Journal, and most recently as the managing editor and lead writer for Chesapeake Quarterly magazine. She is an adjunct professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, where she recently earned her Master of Arts in Journalism. For five years, she co-hosted and co-produced a Chesapeake Bay show on WYPR. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Grist, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, National Parks Magazine, and many other publications. Her work has won two APEX Awards for communication excellence; one MARCOM Platinum Award for research-paper writing; the Lowell Thomas Award, Bronze, for national environmental travel reporting; the Rachel Carson Award for Women Greening Journalism, National Audubon Society; and several honors from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association. Baltimore magazine named her Best Bay Watcher in 2015. She lives in Towson with her husband, her two children, and her rabbit.
Linwood Peele, Division of Water Resources, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Linwood Peele works at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality within the Division of Water Resources as the Water Supply Planning Branch Supervisor. In his role, he provides technical and administrative oversight to ensure compliance with the 13 statewide programs within the Water Supply Planning Branch. He has been involved in Water Resources Planning and Management for the state of North Carolina for over 27 years. Linwood holds a Bachelor and Master of Science degree in degree in Civil Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University and is a Certified Public Manager.
Dr. Louie Rivers, Environmental Protection Agency
Dr. Louie Rivers is with the Environmental Protection Agency. Prior to coming to EPA, Dr. Rivers was an associate professor at NC State University, in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources. His research focuses on the examination of risk, judgment and decision process in minority and marginalized communities, particularly in regards to the natural environment and issues of environmental justice. Traditionally, the study and governance of risk has been from a highly technical and quantitative perspective, excluding lay stakeholders. In order to better include minority and/or marginalized communities into risk governance processes there is a need to better understand how these populations assess or perceive a variety of environmental risks and subsequently make decisions in relation to these risks. Addressing this gap in environmental regulation and policymaking is a major part of my research agenda.
Model Community Partnerships:
Town of Princeville and the Conservation Trust for North Carolina
Princeville is the oldest town chartered by African Americans in the United States and it has historically been recognized as a town along the Tar River prone to repeated flooding. In Princeville, the Conservation Trust for NC has partnered with local leaders, universities, businesses, and nonprofits to find innovative solutions that address issues related to flooding by modeling what it means to be resilient in the face of climate change. Through strong leadership, innovative partnerships, and a commitment to conservation, the town is re-defining their story and building a resilient future for the people of Princeville.
Walnut Creek Watershed
Many residents in the Walnut Creek Watershed routinely contend with nuisance flooding. Dr. Louie Rivers has worked with communities in Southeast Raleigh on problems related to stormwater flooding and how these problems are connected to larger issues of environmental justice in North Carolina. Efforts to address these issues through research and partnership have been successful.
Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative
The Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative (EJJI) seeks to create a more engaged and informed community around environmental inequities and to address them to build a more equitable future. The EJJI aims to teach high school students the skills that journalists need but that they could apply to a multitude of careers, including public-interest law, marine science, city planning, environmental activism, and of course also reporting and editing. The world needs more journalists, but it also needs professionals across disciplines with investigative skills and an ability to connect current problems in science and policy to past decisions. The EJJI teaches students how to obtain information and construct a narrative, be it for video, audio, or a printed piece and connects students with various opportunities for mentoring and career development so they can chart their own course.