Staff

Founders

Van Jones | Founder & President

Van Jones is founding president of Green For All and a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress. He is also the author of The Green Collar Economy (Harper One 2008), which is endorsed by Nancy Pelosi, Tom Daschle and Al Gore.

Green For All is a U.S. organization that promotes green-collar jobs and opportunities for the disadvantaged. Its mission is to build an inclusive, green economy - strong enough to resolve the ecological crisis and lift millions of people out of poverty. 

A 1993 Yale Law graduate, Van is a husband and the father of two small boys. He is a tireless advocate, committed to creating "green pathways out of poverty" and greatly expanding the coalition fighting global warming.

Awards & Honors

A champion for the toughest urban constituencies and causes, Van has won many honors, including: the 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award; the International Ashoka Fellowship; selection as a World Economic Forum "Young Global Leader"; the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship; and the Puffin/Nation prize for "Creative Citizenship". 

Among Van’s honors this year: the Elle Magazine Green Award 2008; selection as one of the George Lucas Foundation's "Daring Dozen 2008;" Hunt Prime Mover Award 2008; Campaign for America's Future "Paul Wellstone Award 2008;" Global Green USA "Community Environmental Leadership" Award 2008; designation as one of the nation’s “Plenty 20” in the October/November 2008 edition of Plenty Magazine; San Francisco Foundation Community Leadership Award 2008; selection as a TIME Magazine 2008 Environmental Hero; and designation as one of the most influential/inspiring African Americans of 2008 by Essence Magazine.

In 2008, Tom Friedman profiled Van in his bestselling book, Hot, Flat & Crowded. Also in 2008, Wilford Welch featured him in the book Tactics of Hope, and Joel Makower highlighted Van’s ideas in the book Strategies for the Green Economy. 

A 'Green Jobs' Pioneer - Globally & Nationally

In 2005, Van produced the “social equity track” for the United Nations’ World Environment Day 2005 summit, which was themed “Green Cities: Plan for the Planet.” As a result of Van’s advocacy, the resulting Accords called upon the world’s mayors to: “Adopt a policy or implement a program that creates environmentally beneficial jobs in slums and/or low-income neighborhoods.” The adoption of these accords marked the beginning of the global movement for “green jobs.” 

In 2007, Van helped the City of Oakland pass a "Green Jobs Corps" proposal. The City allocated funds to train Oakland residents in eco-friendly "green-collar jobs."

At the national level, Van worked successfully in 2007 with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) to pass the Green Jobs Act of 2007. That path-breaking, historic legislation authorized $125 million in funding to train 35,000 people a year in "green-collar jobs." 

In 2008, Green for All partnered with the Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection to launch the Green For All Academy. The Academy trains U.S. grassroots leaders to effectively advocate for an inclusive, green economy. 

On September 27, 2008, Green For All worked with national partners to produce “Green Jobs Now” – the first-ever “national day of action” calling for green-collar jobs in the United States. More than 600 communities in all 50 states participated, with more than 50,000 signing a petition that called for federal government action to spur green jobs.

(Serially) Successful Social Entrepreneur

In 1996, Van co-founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which advocates for juvenile justice reform, police reform, youth violence prevention and green-collar jobs. The Center’s “Books Not Bars” campaign has successfully blocked construction of a super-jail for youth, closed two abusive youth prisons and helped to reduce California’s youth prison population by 30 percent. 

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Van co-founded Color Of Change. Boasting 400,000 members, Color of Change has become the nation’s biggest online advocacy organization that focuses on African-American issues. 

Van is also a co-founder of a new national coalition that promotes the idea of a national "Clean Energy Jobs Corps." This multi-billion-dollar federal initiative would put hundreds of thousands of people to work rewiring and retrofitting the energy infrastructure of the United States. 

Additionally, Van is a founding board member of the National Apollo Alliance and 1Sky, two national organizations promoting clean energy jobs and climate solutions. 

National Media Appearances

Van’s efforts have received attention from prominent news sources. This year, he appeared on CNN’s “Feature #1,” FOX News “Your World With Neil Cavuto,” NPR’s Living On Earth and Steven Colbert’s “The Colbert Report.” Van has also been featured in Good Magazine, Time Magazine, Newsweek, The New York Times, and many online blogs. 

A proud native of Jackson, Tennessee, Van Jones, 40, is proud to champion some of the most hopeful solutions to America's toughest challenges.

Staff

Charlotte Brody | Program Director

Charlotte Brody is the Program Director of Green For All. Before joining our staff, she was the Executive Director of Commonweal, a 30-year old health and environmental research institute in Bolinas, California. She is a founder and former Executive Director of Health Care Without Harm, an international coalition working to make health care more environmentally responsible and sustainable. A registered nurse and the mother of two sons, Charlotte has served as the Organizing Director for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice in Falls Church, Virginia, the Executive Director of a Planned Parenthood affiliate in North Carolina and the Coordinator of the Carolina Brown Lung Association, an occupational safety and health organization focused on cotton textile workers.

Alli Chagi-Starr | Business Partnerships Manager

Alli Chagi-Starr is Green For All's Business Partnerships Manager and the Event Chair of the Dream Reborn Conference. She worked previously at Ella Baker Center, where she helped implement the Solutions Salon series and other large convenings, including the Social Equity track at the United Nations World Environment Day. Alli is also the co-founder of the 8-year old Art in Action Youth Leadership Program, which offers uplifting programs for young, urban artists. Her essays about innovative activism appear in Democratizing the Global Economy, Global Uprising, Voices from the WTO, The Political Edge and How to Stop the Next War Now. She facilitates seminars on developing creative tools for global/personal transformation and movement building.

Ryan Dexter | Video Production/ Media Archivist

Ryan's beliefs are deeply rooted in nature. He was born and raised in Humboldt County, California amidst the towering Redwoods, rocky coastlines, rivers and mountains.  He is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz where he received a B.A. in film/video production.  Ryan has over 13 years experience making videos and short films.  He has traveled over most of the continents of the world, filming and broadening his awareness of the needs of others. He volunteered in orphanages in Africa and Tibet and a refuge camp in Thailand.  He made films to help these organizations gain support and to help enlighten others of their needs. It was while participating with the League of Young Voters in San Francisco, that he was truly inspired into political activism. Ryan is an avid long distance runner and is happiest when playing music with his family and friends. His favorite animal is the Narwhal. He channels his energy to video production so that he can communicate Green for All's dedication to build an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Ryan is a servant warrior and his camera is his weapon against eco-apartheid.

Diana Frappier | Finance & Management Consultant

Jeremy Hays | Field Director

Jeremy manages Green For All’s efforts to identify, connect, support, and engage people around the country that are working on green-collar jobs issues. He was previously the National Organizing Director at the Apollo Alliance where he helped state and local coalitions of environmentalists, labor unions, civil rights groups, and businesses advocate for good jobs and clean energy. Jeremy has broad experience organizing multi-stakeholder efforts to address poverty, environmental issues, and economic development. He has worked a program director for Urban Strategies Council—a community building organization in Oakland, California; as a project manager for the Governor’s Oregon Solutions program; as a policy researcher for the Assistant Secretary of Environmental Justice at Cal/EPA; and as an organizer or technical assistant in a variety of other community development and environmental justice initiatives. He has master’s degrees in City Planning and in International Development from the University of California—Berkeley, and is a co-author of Green-Collar Jobs: Building Pathways out of Poverty and Careers in the Clean Energy Economy (2008).

Nikki Henderson | Senior Researcher & Aide to the President

Nicole "Nikki" Henderson has been an active social justice and sustainability advocate since 2002. She spent 4 years with the California Student Sustainability Coalition, in roles ranging from regional education director to creating and piloting the statewide equity coordinator position. She has also worked extensively with the Southern California Foster System, alternately serving as counselor and co-director of a Foster Youth Empowerment Camp since 2002. Nikki currently lives in Oakland, CA and has a Master's Degree in African American Studies from UCLA.

Stacy Ho | Policy Associate

As Policy Associate, Stacy is primarily responsible for supporting efforts at the local and regional level to win concrete program and policy changes that support the development of an inclusive green economy. She also contributes to broader policy analysis and research, and to federal and state policy advocacy efforts. Stacy joins Green For All with a background in public interest environmental and social justice policy and law. A graduate of Yale University and Lewis & Clark Law School, she has worked as environmental policy advisor to two New Jersey governors and pro bono attorney at Bay Area Legal Aid in San Francisco.

Ying-sun Ho

Ying-sun is a longtime leader in the Bay Area progressive movement. As a longtime core staff member of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, he was a key figure in nearly every major campaign within the local youth-and-student and prison-reform movements of the young century. Now, he is lending his strategic and communications expertise to Green For All. A native San Franciscan, he is also a musician and writer. Currently, Ying-sun is lead guitarist, vocalist, and primary songwriter for the San Francisco rock group Dialectic.

Stephen Loewinsohn | Information Technology Associate

Stephen has over ten years experience as a systems administrator and information technology specialist with companies like Forte Software and Sun Microsystems. After leaving the corporate sector in 2001, Stephen worked as an IT consultant to many non-profits in the Bay Area including Youth Uprising, Bayanihan Community Center, Citizen's Housing Corporation, and Forest Ethics before finally settling down at Green For All in June of 2008. A native of Oakland, Stephen is also an avid photographer, musician, and independent filmmaker.

Mahfam Malek | Operations Manager

Mahfam comes to Green For All with a background in environmental education and activism and a strong passion for social justice issues. Her life pre-Green For All included serving as Office Manager at environmental group Circle of Life; getting hands-on experience with solar panels, hydro-electricity, and pot-bellied pigs while house-sitting in Humboldt County; slinging espresso and reading poetry at her favorite green coffeehouse, Nomad Cafe; developing, fundraising for, and implementing the La Manzanilla Environmental Education Project in Jalisco, Mexico; and getting a B.A. in Film Studies from UC Santa Barbara. Her dream is to see her home country of Iran once more in this life.

Ada McMahon | Online Communications Associate

Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ada came west for love and adventure, and instead wound up at Green For All. She helped organize the Dream Reborn, was the Online Organizer for Green Jobs Now, and currently works in online communications for Green For All. Previously, Ada worked in Washington DC in youth development and video. She graduated from Harvard with a BA in Social Studies in 2006. She is thrilled and honored to be doing this work with such amazing people at such a critical time.

Julian Mocine-McQueen | Field Organizer

Julian is an Oakland native raised behind the redwood curtain of Humboldt County. He is a recent graduate of San Francisco State University, and found his way to Green For All through his work organizing with The League of Young Voters. He was drawn to the message of saving our people and our planet, and is driven by a belief that Green For All's mission is the solution to our biggest problems. As field organizer Julian works everyday to connect with the people fostering an inclusive green economy throughout the country, and more importantly helps them connect to each other.

Melinda Morris | Bookkeeper

Melinda’s background as a bookkeeper for over 20 years with a client base of non-profit organizations, homeowner associations and law firms will serve Green For All well, with her strong accounting skills to set up, clean up and maintain computerized bookkeeping records. Melinda received her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and was recognized as “Entrepreneur of the Year.” She is a member of the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers and a former Board Member of Women’s Initiative for Self Employment. She also owns and operates a pay telephone business and is starting an Independent Elderly Living Facility.

Pauli Ojea | Policy Associate

As Policy Associate, Pauli helps shape and advocate for the policy changes necessary to help build an inclusive green economy that works for all. Pauli comes to Green For All with a background in community organizing, youth activism, and policy advocacy. Before working at Green For All, Pauli was a community organizer at Breast Cancer Action, where she mobilized women and men to take action on important breast cancer issues such as environmental health and access to health care. She’s also had experience teaching environmental education for the San Francisco Department of the Environment and coordinating tours and activities for the Golden Gate National Park’s Crissy Field Center. Pauli is motivated by a passion for connecting people with the tools they need to make change, and for a desire to see a healthier, more equitable world.

Harris Rashid | Senior Web Associate

Harris Rashid is a Web Developer and Designer with extensive experience working with new media technologies. He previously held the position of Web Developer at the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education where he was instrumental in building new platforms for both organizations to expand their online presence. He also led the web development of the Chauncey Bailey Project, the groundbreaking investigation into the death of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey. Harris has a passion for working with open source web technologies, particularly PHP, MYSQL, AJAX, Drupal, and Wordpress. Before gravitating toward the world of web development, Harris spent time working as a Program Associate with the Native American AIDS Prevention Center, as a Teacher in Malaysia (his country of birth), and as Program Assistant with The World radio program at the BBC / WGBH-Boston. Harris is a graduate of Tufts University and is from New York City.

Julia Rhee | Youth Organizer

Julia H. Rhee is a first generation movement builder and has been training students across the country on issues grounded in racial justice, anti-oppression, and building student power for the past seven years. She joins the Green For All team to leverage youth leadership in the environmental justice and equity movement and brings youth work experience hailing from New York City, Oakland, CA and Tacoma, WA.

A graduate of Eugene Lang College of the New School, she is a proud alumnus of the National Asian American Student Conference (NAASCon) and Young People For (YP4) Leadership Academy Fellowship.

Kristin Rothballer | Managing Director

Kristin is leading the effort to build Green For All's structure and strategy. In this capacity, she is responsible for designing programs and managing operations, finance and HR. Formerly the Director of Programs for Bioneers, Kristin developed leading-edge work there, including the youth, satellite conference, and diversity programs. She is a social change leader with strong communication, program development and management skills. She has over ten years of professional experience in strategic partnership building, organizational development, project management and marketing. Kristin’s passion is bridging and building inclusive networks for positive change.

Bari Samad | Internet Director

As a strategist, technologist and communicator Bari comes to Green For All with a strong foundation in assisting non-profit organizations to leverage information technology and the Internet to further their mission. In 2003, Bari launched a groundbreaking online project based on newly available, disaggregated U.S. Census data. In the form of a searchable online database, the work made critical connections between socio-economic disparities and health care in Asian and Pacific Islander communities in the United States. In 2005, he launched the South Asian Forum (southasianforum.org), another groundbreaking online resource that documents the history of community organizing by South Asians in North America and provides current resources to community-based organizations, activists and individuals in the South Asian diaspora. He holds a Masters degree in International Relations with a focus on global economic justice issues. Bari brings his passion for social justice work to his personal life as well. He has worked extensively on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation between 1998 and 2000 where he remodeled a home for transitional children and later built a straw-bale home for a Lakota family. Bari has also studied and taught Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed techniques to examine and heal personal and societal oppressions.

Parin Shah | Local Policy Director

Parin was Chief Policy Aide for the Mayor of Richmond, CA where he drafted legislation and initiated citywide programs on a variety of urban issues from environment and equity to public safely and education. Prior to working for the City of Richmond Parin founded the Urban Accords Institute, which in 2005 co-hosted the UN World Environment Day in San Francisco out of which was developed the Urban Environmental Accords that have been signed by 103 cities worldwide. Over the past ten years as the President of the Commission on the Environment for the City and County of San Francisco he co-authored legislation on climate change, environmental justice, wetlands conservation & restoration, zero waste, green buildings and food security. Parin has also developed and managed habitat restoration projects, horticultural education and job-training programs for formerly incarcerated youth and adults. And has worked in Tunisia as a Peace Corps Volunteer where he led community development projects, taught, and supported the organization of a local women's weaving cooperative.

Ladan Sobhani | Program Manager

Ladan Sobhani graduated from UC Davis with a major in International Relations and minor in Environmental Economics. Following graduation Ladan spent a life-transforming year in Venezuela teaching English and learning Spanish. Her eye-opening travels in Latin America led her to work for two years at the International Forum on Globalization where she researched and wrote about the environmental impact of economic globalization and helped to organize large teach-ins on the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund. Ladan went on to spend five years at the human rights organization, Global Exchange where she worked on a variety of campaigns including: a response to the California Energy crisis, organizing protests against the war on Iraq, and leading political fact finding delegations to Iran (the country of her birth), Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Israel. Currently Ladan works as a Program Manager at Green For All.

Brennan Taylor | Development Associate

Brennan is honored to serve as Green For All's Development Associate. She is an Arkansas native and a recent graduate of Carleton College where she majored in History with a focus on Africa and its diaspora. Her senior thesis focused on the role of music in the 1990 Tuareg rebellion in Northern Mali. After graduating in 2007 she moved to Oakland and volunteered for various campaigns at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. She joined the Green For All Team in July.

Vien Truong | Senior Policy Associate

Vien Truong is the Senior Policy Associate at Green For All.  She concurrently serves as the Associate Attorney for the New Business Practicum at UC Berkeley's Boalt School of Law.  She is also Co-chair of Membership for the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and a City of Oakland Commissioner on the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth Planning and Oversight Committee.

Vien was previously a summer clerk for U.S. Chief Magistrate, researching and analyzing issues before the federal court.  She also worked with a California State Senator, researching and developing state law.  Vien was the founding instructor for the Legal Assistance Program for Clarita Career College, a legal training program for entering legal professionals. She also taught Street Law at Castlemont High School, a program that teaches law to high school students. She was the Community Economic Justice Law Fellow at the East Bay Community Law Center.

Vien holds a B.A from the University of California at Berkeley. She also holds a J.D. from the University of California at Hastings College of the Law.

Jason Walsh | National Policy Director

Jason was previously State Policy Director for The Workforce Alliance, a national coalition advocating for public policies that invest in the skills of America's workers, where he worked on a range of federal and state workforce development legislation, including the Green Jobs Act. Jason has also been the Director of the Affirmative Options Coalition, a Minnesota-based anti-poverty coalition, as well as a union organizer with SEIU and UNITE, and a policy fellow for the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone. He’s a graduate of the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute and holds a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota.

Board of Directors

Van Jones

Diana Frappier

James Rucker

Rachel Bagby

Priya Haji