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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
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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

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