With climate and environmental justice at the forefront of the national consciousness, Groundwork Trusts have stepped up in big ways to ensure that the voices of communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis are prioritized in the design of solutions. To support this growing momentum at the grassroots level, we welcomed three extraordinary individuals to our national team this spring: Genea Foster, Jeremy Hoffman, and Theresa Chong!
As the newest members of our Climate, Land, and Water Team, Genea Foster and Jeremy Hoffman bring deep experience in climate adaptation, science communication, urban planning, and environmental justice to our growing climate adaption and land revitalization programs.
As the Director of Climate Resilience and Land Use, Genea Foster spearheads efforts to advance climate and community resilience programs across our network and beyond. Genea brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our team, with a background in urban planning and community organizing, as well as over a decade of experience championing environmental justice, climate resilience, public health, and civic engagement. In this new role, Genea leads the Climate Safe Neighborhoods program, a sixteen-city partnership to build the capacity of residents to self-advocate for climate adaptation investments, and works to support nonprofits nationwide to transform neglected and contaminated land into community assets.
After seven years at the Science Museum of Virginia, most recently as the David and Jane Cohn Chief Scientist, Dr. Jeremy Hoffman joins us as the new Director of Climate Justice and Impact. Leveraging his background in climate communications and community science programs, Jeremy is working to improve how we communicate our impact and increase the involvement of community members of all ages in data collection.
In this new role, Jeremy will work across our climate resilience programs, including Climate Safe Neighborhoods and the Climate Preparedness and Land Restoration initiative, to integrate improved community science practices, develop new opportunities for youth leadership, and increase the ability of Trust to measure and communicate impact.
To help ensure that our programmatic work is supported by a solid foundation, Theresa Chong recently joined the Operations team as our new Business Manager. She brings over a decade of accounting management experience, focusing on directing accounting operations, guiding financial controls, and bookkeeping.
As the Business Manager, Theresa will maintain successful business practices, ensure the efficiency of operations, optimize our resources for efficiency and effectiveness, and implement strategies to support growth within the organization, enabling us to further our mission.
With the growth of our team, we are better equipped to foster collaboration across departments and disciplines. This heightened capacity empowers us to deliver invaluable support to Groundwork Trusts, igniting a more meaningful and widespread impact throughout our network.
