June 11 & 12, 2026
Atlanta, GA.
Our FIFTH annual Environmental Justice and Climate Protection Conference!
This conference brings together community leaders, concerned citizens, elected officials, academics, and industry experts to break information silos through information sharing focused on identifying solutions to heal and improve the health and environment of all Georgians.
Attendees receive solutions-oriented information on the dimensions of environmental health that impact Georgia residents. With sessions on environmental justice impacts, translating knowledge into action, and community coalition building, we discuss, and more importantly, actively brainstorm, what community work can be done right now to move the needle on improving environmental health.
Hosts
Individual contributors: Tasha Messer, DeKalb County Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs (DeKalb County RPCA) and Denise Reid.
Conference Content
Keynote Speaker: Daniel Blackman
Daniel Blackman is a global leader in climate, equity, and governance whose work bridges public policy, diplomacy, philanthropy, and capital. A former Presidential Appointee under the Biden–Harris Administration, he oversaw more than $6 billion in climate, infrastructure, and environmental justice investments as Regional Administrator of the U.S. EPA Region 4, serving eight states and six federally recognized tribes while advancing long-term economic resilience. Beyond federal service, he is a Board Trustee of Support + Feed and Vice Chairman and Advisor to Edelen Renewables, and as Founder of Renaissance94, he is recognized for aligning government, private capital, and ethical governance to build resilient, community-centered institutions that deliver lasting impact beyond political cycles.
Agenda
Thursday
Check-in – Downstairs
Breakfast – President’s Suite
We will kickoff the conference with our Keynote Speaker: Daniel Blackman.
Dr Treva Gear, Dogwood Alliance will charge us for another amazing EJ&CP Conference.
Location: President’s Suite
Track 1: Building Change via Coalitions
Location: President’s Suite
Speakers will explore bringing people together, outreach to specific groups, and building trust. They will highlight examples from their own experiences and work.
Olivia Asher, PhD Candidate, University of Georgia; Organizer, Coalition of Athens Scientists
- Community Engagement Behind the Athens Clean and Renewable Energy Plan
Tykivious Grier, MPA, South Georgia Organizer, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light
- Community Mapping for Change Tracing Relationships, Trust, and Action Across South Georgia
Yarrow Koning, M.Ed. in Environmental Education, Organizer, Queers for Climate Justice
- Calling All EcoQueers: Engaging LGBTQ+ Communities in EJ/CJ Coalitions
Track 2: Community & Climate Resilience
Location: Clary Theatre
Our climate doesn’t just need to be resilient to change, but our people do as well. Learn how both communities and the environment can be strengthened to respond to our changing climate.
Amy Chicos, MA Transpersonal Psychology & Ecopsychology, Community Member
- The Social Mycelium: Relational Permaculture as the Missing Leg of Sustainability
Danait Issac, Community Manager, Girl Plus Environment
- Building Climate Resilience Hubs in the Aftermath of Natural Disasters
Ted Terry, DeKalb County Super District 6 Commissioner
- An update on Environmental Justice efforts in DeKalb County
Track 1: IYKYK – Effective Authentic Engagement Strategies
Location: President’s Suite
Meeting people where they are and sparking their interest goes a long way in creating change. Speakers will cover various successful strategies to work with communities.
Laura Early, Eastern Program Director, SouthWings
- How the Bird’s Eye View Can Elevate Your Cause
Ryan Jones, Founder, Black Empowerment for Environmental Sustainability
- Creating Climate Culture
Diamond Spratling, MPH, Founder & Executive Director, Girl Plus Environment
- Culture Is Infrastructure: Lessons from a Millennial-Led Organization Using Culture and Media for Environmental Justice
Track 2: Panel – Community Power: Justice in Action
Location: Clary Theatre
The Tift Site in East Point, GA has languished as a Class 1 Hazardous Waste site for 30 years, its industrial contaminants continuing to pollute the headwaters of the South River despite regulatory mandates for cleanup. This panel brings together community organizers, researchers, and policy workers to show how the South River Watershed Alliance built community power through water testing, open records requests, and resident mobilization — ultimately forcing Georgia’s EPD back to the negotiating table. Attendees will leave with practical tools to demand accountability and take action against environmental injustice in their own communities.
Panelists:
Finish your lunch and fight the food coma by participating in small group exercises.
Amy Chicos, MA, Ecopsychologist & Relational Permaculture Coach, BeEcoWell
- Tending the Social Soil: A Relational Permaculture Design Lab
Brandy Hall, Founder & CEO Shades of Green Permaculture
- Smart Stormwater: Practical Solutions for a Resilient Future
Allen Hyde, Associate Professor, School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Using maps to facilitate story telling around data centers and understand community needs.
Akissi Stokes-Nelson, CEO & Cofounder, WunderGrubs, Inc.
- Insect Mania Card Gameplay
Anna Zelcer, Climate Fresk, MBA in Sustainability, Sustainability Coordinator, Angelini Pharma
- Your community members can become a Climate Hero!
Track 1: A Panel on Black Women’s Environmental and Climate Justice Activism in Coastal Georgia
Location: President’s Suite
This panel will engage climate and environmental justice advocates in coastal Georgia, looking to a rich past of Black women’s activism in the region and towards a future that centers memory, heritage, and culture in climate justice movements. This discussion will highlight both the successes and challenges to addressing environmental injustice in coastal Georgia. Panelists will engage in a discussion about ecological injustices within their communities, how they sustain themselves and their work, and discuss coalition-building towards a sustainable climate justice movement on the Georgia coast.
Panelists: Adrian Cato, PhD candidate, Emory University; Courtney McGill, Digital Creator & Community Archivist, Independent (Black-Owned Brunswick); Neesha Powell-Ingabire, journalist, essayist, writing educator & cultural organizer.
Track 2: Community Involved Research
Location: Clary Theatre
Garry Harris, Center for Sustainable Communities
- NASA Hampton Roads Coastal Resilience Project
Allen Hyde, Associate Professor School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Community-Engaged Approaches to Understanding the Effects of Data Centers on Communities in Atlanta
Lara Martin, Community Member, Lindmoor Woods Neighborhood Association
- Paved Over: What the I-285 Expansion Reveals About Health, Equity, and Community Power
Location: Hall of Success
Check out our unposter session while enjoying snacks and networking with your colleagues.
UnPosters:
Virginia Cason, Georgia Tech University, Atlanta Community Engaged Grad Program – Fellow, Power To The People: The Case For Balcony Solar In GA
Jeremiah Dang, Student, Kendeda Building Fellowship, Architecture & Sustainable Cities Student, The First Living Building in the Southeast – The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design
Sarah Eazzetta, Southeastern Wind Coalition, Wind Energy and Georgia’s Energy Future
Garry Harris, Center for Sustainable Communities, Tree Planting for Environmental Justice: Reducing Urban Heat in Portsmouth’s Vulnerable Communities
Irene Jacob, Georgia Tech Student, Atlanta Community Engaged Research Grad Program – Fellow, Rooted in Questions
Kathry Kolb & Dajawn Williams, EcoAddendum, A Triple Win: Env Education, Restoration, Green Jobs
Erin Lebow-Skelley & Alina Merceron, HERCULES Exposome Research Center, Emory University, How can I limit harmful exposures in my home?
Gavin Messer, Trees Atlanta, Youth Tree Team, Piedmont Park External Studies Group Capstone Project.
Ella Neumann, Georgia Tech University, Atlanta Community Engaged Grad Program – Fellow, Toilets to Tributaries: Exploring Atlanta’s Combined Sewer System
Niya Randall, Georgia State University, Atlanta Community Engaged Grad Program, Four Churches. One Community
Gillian Smith & Marcia Worrell, Center for Black Women’s Wellness, Building a Community Starting at Square 1
Sharon Rachel, Georgia Tech Student, Atlanta Community Engaged Research Grad Program – Fellow, The Value of Our Voices: Environmental Justice Leaders Talk Data Centers
Nataliia Yaroshenko, Sumy National Agrarian University and University of Buffalo, Environment Under Threat – a case from Ukraine
Friday
Data Centers – everything you wanted to know, and more
Location: President’s Suite
Amy Sharma, Executive Director, and Jessica Owens, Director of Data and Mapping, Science for Georgia, will cover all things data centers: what they are, community outreach techniques, available resources, and using maps to track their locations and impacts.
Track 1: Tales from Rural Towns
Location: President’s Suite
Learn firsthand about the “Highway to Hell” in rural South Georgia. From the negative impact of the woody biomass industry to proposed data centers to natural disasters.
Panelists: Dakkia Bradshaw, Lumber City Community Leader; Treva Gear, Dogwood Alliance.
Track 2: Workshop/Panel: Community Benefits Agreements
Location: Clary Theatre
Presented by: Kevin T. Bryan, Principal, Equnival Partners LLC
CBAs are often mentioned as a great tool for creating and sustaining change. But what are they? How do you make them happen? and what must be done to make them work for communities?
Location: President’s Suite
Make new friends over lunch and answer questions to help us plan for the upcoming year.
Close out the conference by investing in your own resilience.
Track 1: Holding Space for Climate Grief
President’s Suite
Danielle Jones, Facilitator of Earth-based, liberatory and somatic practices, Founder/Principal ROOTSRISE LLC
Track 2: Resilience as Resistance: Trauma-Informed Tools for Environmental Justice Leaders and Communities
Clary Theatre
Crystal M. Consonery, Certified Faith-Based Clinical Counselor & Life Coach
Resources
Georgia Department of Public Health data website – OASIS | Georgia Dept. of Public Health | OHIP
Join Us!
Directions and Parking
We will be hosted at the Georgia Tech Main Campus in the Bill Moore Student Success Center.
The Bill Moore Student Success Center is located at 219 Uncle Heinie Way Northwest, Atlanta, GA 30332. However, this address will not populate in a GPS device.
Instead, we recommend visitors use the parking address for GPS directions:
176 North Avenue Northwest, Atlanta, GA, 30313 (Area 1 Visitor Lot).
Please note that the NW or Northwest is extremely important when entering the approximate address into GPS. Entering only the street name will result in a different location away from the Georgia Tech campus.
Sky Bridge and Crosswalk Directions
Once parked in Area 1 Visitor Lot use the Sky Bridge to get to the Bill Moore Student Success Center.
- From the top of the parking deck, proceed across the pedestrian bridge to safely cross North Avenue.
- The Bill Moore Student Success Center is the large brick building to your right at the end of the sidewalk right and is attached to the west side of the football stadium.
There is also an automated pedestrian crosswalk located on the street level just south of the parking deck. For your safety, please do not cross the street at any point outside of a crosswalk. North Avenue is extremely busy, and our campus police may issue tickets for jaywalking.
MARTA
– We strongly recommend using Marta and/or Rideshare.
Georgia Tech’s campus is located near the Midtown and North Avenue rail stations on the Gold and Red Lines. The Stinger provides direct service from campus to the Midtown Station’s Peachtree Place entrance. Stinger service is not provided to the North Avenue Station. For more details, please click here.
North Avenue Station
- After exiting that station, walk three blocks west on North Avenue to campus (crossing over the interstate).
- After passing the football stadium, go up the stairs on the right and continue right to the Bill Moore Student Success Center.
Midtown Station
- Exit the station at Peachtree Place and catch The Stinger to campus.
- Remain on the Stinger until the Campus Recreation Center stop (across from our Campus Recreation Center).
- For the Bill Moore Student Success Center, exit at the Transit Hub.
- Once you exit, continue east on Ferst Drive. At the end of Ferst Drive continue in front of Tech Tower to the Bill Moore Student Success Center.
In addition to rail service via North Avenue Station or Midtown Station, the following bus routes are convenient to the Georgia Tech Student Success Center:
- Bus 12 via Northside Parkway and Howell Mill Road in West Midtown
- Bus 36 via North Decatur Road/Emory University/Virginia Highlands
- Bus 27 via Cheshire Bridge Road and Piedmont/14th Street
- Bus 99 via Boulevard, Monroe Drive and 10th Street around Piedmont Park
Register
Please register for the conference using the form below. If you choose to attend via Zoom – we will send that link out a few days before the conference. We have officially reached capacity for the In-person attendance! Online registration is still open for those who wish to stay in the conversation.
Lodging
Hilton Garden Inn
Room rate expires on May 22!!!
We have secured a block of rooms for $175/night at the Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta Midtown, 97 10th Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30309
Hampton Inn
Room rate expires on May 10!!!
We have secured a block of rooms for $219/night at the Hampton Inn Atlanta-Georgia Tech-Downtown, 244 North Ave NW, Atlanta, GA 30313
Sponsors
Sponsors enable us to provide travel stipends, keep ticket prices low, and keep the momentum going.
Environmental Justice Heros
Climate Champions
Change Agent
Friends of Environmental Justice
