Keynote Address
Delmar Gillus - Elevate
Delmar Gillus is the chief operating officer of Elevate. He is responsible for operational, workforce development, and project management in Elevate’s portfolio of clean energy projects. Gillus supports Elevate’s business development, program design, project coordination, engineering support, and contract management. He played a critical role in passing Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, working to ensure the legislation centered equity and created project opportunities and jobs in underserved environmental justice communities. Gillus works to increase contractor diversity, deliver workforce development programs, create opportunities for diverse contractors in community solar programs, and ensure smart grid programs are accessible to all Illinois utility consumers. Gillus is active in boards and advisory councils such as the Illinois Future of Work Task Force, the Building Performance Association, and the Illinois Environmental Council. Outside of work, Gillus volunteers with the Chicagoland National Society of Black Engineers Alumni chapter, mentoring young engineers in pre-college initiative programs. Prior to joining Elevate, Gillus worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois in the information technology division.
Building Retrofits: Basics and Benefits
Henry Love - Elevate
Henry Love is the principal director of municipal and community programs at Elevate, a nonprofit organization that designs and implements programs for everyone to access clean and affordable heat, power, and water in their homes and communities. In this role, he works with partners across the country to develop projects, programs, and initiatives for equitable solutions to climate change that provide healthy, safe, and affordable homes for everyone. Before joining Elevate, Love served as executive director of the American Jobs Project, which he co-founded with Secretary of Energy and former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. He served as assistant director of Michigan Energy Options from 2009 to 2015 and has been an executive-level strategy consultant to nonprofit organizations in energy as well as local economic development and workforce development for disadvantaged communities. He has also developed programs for academic institutions, such as the University of California Berkeley and the University of Michigan.
Engaging Across Sectors: An Introduction to Community, Affordable Housing, Health, Economic Inclusion, and Other Stakeholders
Annika Brindel - ACEEE
Annika Brindel leads the Residential Retrofits for Energy Equity initiative, which aims to scale up building retrofits of low- and moderate-income housing, leveraging a competition to drive policy and program innovation. She joined ACEEE in 2022. Prior to joining ACEEE, Brindel led the National Housing Trust’s energy efficiency policy work in the Midwest. This included convening partners, intervening in regulatory proceedings, and advising state and local governments on issues related to energy affordability and multifamily energy efficiency. Before that she led the Alliance to Save Energy’s engagement of municipally-owned electric utilities. Brindel is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in American history and German from Wesleyan University.
Diana Morales - ACEEE
Diana Morales is a research analyst on the local policy team at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. She conducts research related to energy efficiency and clean energy policy led by local governments in cities and metropolitan regions in the United States. She also contributes to the City Scorecard. Morales joined ACEEE in 2021. Before joining ACEEE, Morales worked at the U.S. Green Building Council. Morales holds a master of sustainability degree with a focus on urban and energy systems from Chatham University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and anthropology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Callahan Seltzer - HR&A Advisors
Callahan Seltzer is a principal at HR&A Advisors. She is a housing systems and urban planning professional with 15 years of experience working across finance and public policy sectors to advance production and preservation of affordable housing across the country. She has deep experience in housing affordability and energy issues, with expertise in policy writing, real estate debt and equity capital raises, FHA and GSE products, HUD programs and regulations, fund structure, and administration and Low-Income Housing and Historic Tax Credits. Prior to HR&A, Seltzer was national director of housing for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a national Community Development Financial Institution. She has structured over $1 billion in affordable housing transactions during her career, advised the Federal Reserve, banks, tech companies, foundations, the White House, and the Australian Parliament on housing affordability and housing production. Seltzer holds a master’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master’s degree from Georgetown University, and a bachelor’s degree from Ohio Wesleyan University.
Meeting This Moment: How Community Organizations Are Mobilizing Collaborative Housing and Energy Solutions (a panel of community-based organizations)
Alexis Washburn - Emerald Cities Collaborative
Alexis Washburn is the regional director in the Northeast office at Emerald Cities Collaborative, where she is focused on advancing economic inclusion and workforce development initiatives that support women and people of color in the construction industry. These efforts are accomplished through the implementation of the E-Contractor Academy, a minority, woman, and disabled veteran owned business enterprise contractor training program focused on energy efficiency and renewable energy and leadership in local workforce/contractor development tables. In addition, Washburn is supporting the launch of Emerald Connections, a new community-focused energy efficiency retrofit pilot program for low-income households in frontline communities. Prior to joining Emerald Cities Collaborative, Washburn worked at the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources where she equity and environmental justice work in building energy efficiency policy and programming. Washburn graduated from Boston University with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and from Tufts University with a master’s degree in urban and environmental policy and planning.
Johari Cole-Kweli - Community Development Corporation of Pembroke and Hopkins Park
Johari Cole-Kweli is managing director of the Community Development Corporation of Pembroke and Hopkins Park. She is a passionate driver of 21st Century STEM, environmental education, and stewardship. For over 25 years, she has co-operated her family-owned farm, Lyabo Farms, founded in 1994 and located in Pembroke Township, Illinois. She has dedicated her life to organic farming and local food access issues, specifically in low-income communities and communities of color. Lyabo Farms hosts on-farm research, internships, ag- and eco-tourism, and environmental engineering camps for scientists, environmentalists, and farmers. Cole-Kweli has a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and genetics from Michigan State University and an master’s degree in business administration in sustainability management from Keller University. She serves as chair of the Rehoboth Blueberry Farm Advisory Board, vice president of the University of Illinois Extension Council, and as a member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals. She is a doctoral candidate in STEM Education.
Lee Ringo - Community Development Corporation of Pembroke and Hopkins Park
Lee Ringo is the energy efficiency program manager at the Community Development Corporation of Pembroke and Hopkins Park. He is a results-oriented operations leader who adds value in project management. Leveraging over 15 years of demonstrated sales and operations success, he focuses on process optimization and end-user approval. Ringo cultivates relationships and builds networks to address environmental and climate justice and move clean, renewable energy initiatives forward.
Derrick Miller - Community Action Network
Derrick Miller is a seasoned nonprofit leader with a passion for sustainability and over 20 years of experience in social service. As the executive director of Community Action Network (CAN), he has overseen the organization's financial health and secured over $6.2 million in new resources. Under his leadership, CAN's annual income has more than doubled. In addition to his financial development efforts, Miller has also led the creation of Washtenaw County Michigan’s first and second resiliency hubs, launched a neighborhood carbon neutrality project, and served as an executive committee member of the Washtenaw Alliance for Children and Youth. He established CAN's first committee on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In response to ongoing tragedies for Ukrainian refugees, Miller took the initiative to raise over $100,000 that funded the creation of three shelters and a classroom and the distribution of 40 tons of food and medical supplies in Poland and Ukraine.
Luana DeJesus - PUSH Green
Since 2012, Luana DeJesus has worked at PUSH Green, where she first helped design and implement customer outreach strategies, led tracking and data management and maintenance, as well as assisting customers of EmPower, which provides no-cost energy efficiency solutions to income-eligible New Yorkers. She is now the organization’s community energy advisor, where she provides outreach and education to drive clean energy and energy efficiency across Western New York. She makes presentations on energy efficiency and renewable energy for schools, community-based organizations, faith-based institutions, and many others. DeJesus holds a bachelor’s degree with dual majors in history and religion from Williams College. She worked as administrative assistant with Ujima Theater Company and later managed a small neighborhood grocery store on Buffalo’s West Side. Living and working as a part of that diverse community is what fuels DeJesus’s commitment to drawing on a community’s strengths to build a green, sustainable, healthier future.
Amani Reid - POWER Interfaith
Amani Reid is a climate justice and jobs organizer at POWER Interfaith. She is an environmental justice advocate and New Jersey Native. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science with an environmental studies minor from Temple University and is a former U.S. Army Reservist. She joined POWER in January of 2022 as a Climate Justice Fellow. Her past work includes being a Student Career Peer Advisor for Temple University’s Internships and Career Development Department, Education Coordinator for Audubon Pennsylvania’s Discovery Center, and U.S. Census Bureau Enumerator. Reid is dedicated to stewardship and advocacy work to include climate justice, environmental justice, equity and equality. She has been a panelist at the Palmer Seminary Science and Religion Symposium and helped lead a climate teach in class at Temple University. She has researched the disproportionate impacts facing our most vulnerable communities and wants to do all she can to make a change.
NKwanda Jah - Project EMPOWER
NKwanda Jah is a co-founder and executive director for the Cultural Arts Coalition, a 41-year old nonprofit that sponsors the Annual 5th Ave Arts Festival in Gainesville, Florida, as well as Environmental Ambassadors, a 30-year old job training program for teenagers, and after-school science clubs for elementary students in East Gainesville. She chairs the Alachua County NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Committee, which has hosted community forums about healthy accessible food, clean energy and the climate crisis. She serves on the Lake Forest PTA and Resilience Charter School board of directors, and is a member of the Rural Development Leadership Network, a board member for the Repurpose Project, Alachua Habitat, and Women for Wise Growth. She has received over a dozen awards for her community leadership, most recently the 2020 NAACP Alachua County Community Service Award.
Leveraging New and Existing Federal Funding Opportunities for Building Upgrades
Jamal Lewis - Rewiring America
Jamal Lewis is director of policy partnerships and equitable electrification at Rewiring America. He leads Rewiring America's equitable electrification efforts to ensure everyone can access the benefits of electrification. Lewis facilitates the Federal Electrification Policy Coalition, a coalition of advocates advancing electrification policy at the federal level, and he supports the Bicameral Congressional Electrification Caucus. Previously, he led the energy and climate initiatives at Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, where he worked with states and localities across the country to advance electrification, healthy housing, and energy efficiency. He has multiple publications outlining pathways to promoting equity by retrofitting existing housing stock to be healthy, energy-efficient, all-electric, and affordable. He is a Young, Gifted, & Green 40 Under 40 award recipient for his leadership in environmental justice.
Stephanie Sosa-Kalter - ACEEE
Stephanie Sosa-Kalter assists with the Residential Retrofits for Energy Equity initiative, which is designed to scale up low- and moderate-income building retrofits, leveraging a competition to drive policy and program innovation among eligible cities, counties, and/or states. She joined ACEEE in 2022. Prior to joining ACEEE, Sosa-Kalter worked as the federal policy analyst for New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). This included evaluating legislation and communicating New York City’s needs to elected officials and national groups to meet the city’s housing goals. Prior to HPD, Stephanie worked as the director for mission-driven development at the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD) where she advocated for mission-driven development, sustainability standards in affordable housing, and coordinated capacity building opportunities for ANHD members. Stephanie earned a master’s degree in urban planning from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in social work from Siena College.
Introduction to Community-Driven Planning
Corrine Van Hook Turner - People’s Climate Innovation Center
Corrine Van Hook Turner leads the vision and strategy for People’s Climate Innovation Center, bringing a lens of racial equity and transformative movement building. Van Hook Turner convenes and cultivates creative leadership within climate justice and deep democracy ecosystems toward a shared vision for a Just Transition to a world of interdependence, resilience, and regeneration. Van Hook Turner’s 20-plus years of experience are deeply immersed in movements advancing social, economic, environmental, and racial justice. As a former Initiative for Diversity in Education and Leadership Scholar, she saw the impact of investing in youth and disenfranchised communities of color so that leadership reflects the diversity it seeks to serve. Van Hook Turner was formerly co-director of Rooted in Resilience (formerly Bay Localize), a grassroots organization working to catalyze a movement for more equitable, resilient communities. She serves on the steering committee of the California Trade Justice Coalition and the board of New Buildings Institute. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jaime Love - People's Climate Innovation Center
Jaime Love provides leadership, strategy and support to People's Climate Innovation Center programs that advance community-driven planning and movement building while centering racial equity and whole-systems solutions. Love has over 20 years of experience in public health, philanthropy, and climate resilience, with a deep focus on racial justice and health equity. Her work in the public health sector included community organizing and advocacy work in communities with disproportionate health impacts. Her expertise includes program development and leadership, equity, policy advocacy, communications, and outreach. Love is a 2016 PLACES Fellow (Professionals Learning About Community, Equity, and Smart Growth), and has participated in leadership programs at the Rockwood Leadership Institute and Interaction Institute for Social Change. Love is on the board of the Blue Ash YMCA, Co-op Cincy, and Green Umbrella. She sits on the PLACES Advisory Committee and the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders policy committee. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati in health promotion and a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University.
Opening and Closing Remarks
Daryl Wright - Emerald Cities Collaborative
Daryl Wright is chief strategy officer at Emerald Cities Collaborative. He has over 15 years’ experience in senior leadership roles as a senior director and vice president at YouthBuild USA and as board president at Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation in Massachusetts. Before coming to Emerald Cities, Wright was principal consultant at Proprentice Knight, a consulting firm working with clients on community engagement, workforce, and supplier development in high-demand sectors. Wright has extensive experience building and sustaining collaborations focused on successful outcomes for individuals living in low-income communities. He has expertise in community development, workforce development, and youth development. He has worked with community-based organizations, unions, business associations, and employers developing innovative programs. He is the author of 50 publications, most written under government contracts. Wright has a master’s degree in urban and environmental policy and planning from Tufts University. A serious practitioner of the Japanese martial arts, he has a 3rd degree black belt in Japanese Jiu JitSu and is studying Aikido. He is married and has one daughter.
Jonathan Meyers - HR&A Advisors
Jonathan Meyers has over 20 years of experience in advising governmental and private sector clients on strategy, financing, and implementation of complex real estate and public realm projects. Meyers develops sound and effective strategies for deploying public-private partnerships in real estate development and public infrastructure. Meyers is leading teams to assist New York electric and gas utility Consolidated Edison in its efforts to incentivize energy efficiency investments in low- and moderate-income multifamily housing, and Washington State Department of Commerce to assess the energy efficiency needs of low-income and energy-burdened households across the state and develop strategies to improve energy efficiency and decarbonization programs. Meyers returned to HR&A in 2016 after serving for ten years as the chief operating officer of the Trust for Governors Island, where he was responsible for capital projects, operations, and finance for a complex redevelopment project in New York Harbor.
