'Sustainability, Policy & Justice - A critical Conversation' to be hosted on April 13

 Sustainability, Policy & Justice — A Critical Conversation
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
April 13, 2023
IU Northwest Library Conference Center (Room 105)

The IU Northwest School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), Center for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE) and Brown Faces Green Spaces will be hosting a forum on sustainability, policy and environmental justice in celebration of IU Northwest's Sustainability Month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 13, 2023, in the Library Conference Center (Room 105).

The forum, “Sustainability, Policy & Justice - A Critical Conversation,” will include presentations from Brown Faces Green Spaces founder/director Kimmie Gordon; IU Northwest SPEA professor of 30 years, Dr. Jacqueline Huey; and the Chicago-based Region 5 EPA’s Director of Tribal and Multimedia Programs, Alan Walts.

This free event is open to the IU Northwest campus and community.

Presenting Content:

• Welcome & Introduction — (Dr. Ellen Szarletta, Dr. Eric Lambert and Dr. Monica Solinas)
• Environmental Justice in NW Indiana — Kimmie Gordon, BFGS founder/director
• Considering EJ & Civil Rights in the Decision-Making Process — Alan Walts, EPA Region 5
• Victim Crimes Act /Env. Crimes Among Minority Groups — Dr. Jacqueline Huey, professor of public affairs (criminal justice, women & gender Studies, diversity)
• Breakout Discussion — “Normalizing the Conversation on Sustainability & Social Justice”
• Breakout Summaries — Dr. Jacqueline Huey
• Closing — (Kimmie Gordon, Dr. Ellen Szarletta, Dr. Eric Lambert and Dr. Monica Solinas)

Introductory bios:

Kimmie Gordon, SPEA MPA Graduate, 2010, is the founder/director of Brown Faces Green Spaces — a non-profit organization promoting justice, diversity, equity and inclusion in the regional outdoor sector. Gordon is also the co-founder of a grassroots environmental justice advocacy group, Gary Advocates for Responsible Development (GARD). Gordon works to promote environmental education and climate literacy among youth, seniors and families of color to connect culture to nature by facilitating healing-centered outdoor experiences and workshops that provide relevant insight, information and awareness of the environmental issues disproportionately impacting urban neighborhoods. 

Jackie Huey, Ph.D. has taught a wide variety of criminal justice, diversity, women & gender studies and public affairs courses for 30 years. As a student-centered professor, her primary goal is exposing students to ideas and the more “difficult” subjects that involve analyzing and understanding realities that are not their own race, gender, sexuality and/or class. In an attempt to color her world, Huey tie-dyes shirts (for nearly everyone she meets) and as Pan-Demonic plays the soul-soothing handpan at most events she attends, requested or not. In her spare time, she writes lesbian fiction exploring justice and gender issues.

Alan Walts is Director of the Tribal and Multimedia Programs Office for U.S. EPA Region 5, which serves Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and 35 federally-recognized tribes. This Office manages the Region’s tribal, international, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), environmental justice, children’s health, environmental education and Schools programs. Alan joined EPA Region 5 as a staff attorney in 1996. From 2007-2019, Alan directed Region 5’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Alan is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the University of Michigan Law School.