Where Can We Make Progress on Climate Change?

Moderator: 
Deonna Anderson, Senior Editor at GreenBiz Group
Deonna Anderson is an award-winning journalist and senior editor at GreenBiz. Previously, she was the Surdna reporting fellow at YES! Magazine and the 2017-2018 Equitable Cities Fellow for Next City. Anderson is an alumna of UC Davis and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Speaker: 
Kari Fulton, Frontline Policy Coordinator
Kari Fulton is an award-winning Environmental and Climate Justice organizer, advocate, and writer. Fulton serves as the Frontline Policy Coordinator with the Climate Justice Alliance supporting grassroots-solutions that advance a transition to a just and regenerative economy. A proud product of Black-American migration patterns, she was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, is a long-time resident of Washington, DC but currently resides with her family in Baltimore, Maryland. Her work has been featured in various media including Black Entertainment Television (BET), Teen Vogue, Essence Magazine, and Chinese Global Television Network (CGTN). Fulton is an alumna of Howard University (B.A., 2007) and a class of 2020 National Urban Fellow at Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy (MPM). You can sometimes find her musings and meme stash @checktheweather.

Speaker:
R. Denise Everson, LEED AP®,  Assoc. AIA
R. Denise Everson directs human capital programs at ThinkBox where she leads the Sustainable Communities Project® as the Leader of Making and Keeping Friends. Denise uplifts under-resourced communities to further entrepreneurship, amplify STEAM education, create realistic jobs, and promote wellness. 

Denise graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Architecture from Hampton University and earned a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute. Denise is a recipient of the National Architects Foundation Pettigrew Memorial Scholarship and an American Institute of Architects’ Associates Award. She is an inductee to Hampton University’s inaugural Forty Under 40 Society and a Next City Forty Under 40 Vanguard. She served the AIA nationally as a member of the Government Advocacy Committee and the Design and Health Leadership Group. She currently serves as Treasurer of the AIA Housing and Community Development Knowledge Community. 

Speaker: 
Kerry O'Neill, CEO Inclusive Prosperity Capital
Kerry E. O’Neill is the CEO of Inclusive Prosperity Capital, Inc., an impact investment fund that was spun out of the Connecticut Green Bank to scale up impact for underserved communities and underinvested markets across the country. IPC operates at the intersection of community development, clean energy finance, and climate impact using a collection of products and strategies and an ecosystem approach to matching capital supply with project demand through mission-aligned partners on the ground. Prior to joining IPC, Ms. O’Neill led the residential energy financing programs and low-income initiatives at the Connecticut Green Bank, a state entity that works with private-sector investors to create low-cost, long-term sustainable financing for clean energy to maximize the use of public funds. Her work at IPC and the Connecticut Green Bank has given her keen insight into the institutional challenges – and opportunities – associated with clean energy investing for underserved communities.