Huston-Tillotson University will host the fourth annual Building Green Justice Forum, this year focusing on “Organic Activistology.” Presenters and participants will reflect on their roles as organic activists – thinkers and doers who reflect their community’s history, values, and knowledge and who engage to direct the community as leaders and organizers. This exploration includes an analysis of the broader frame of environmental justice work, including tensions, conflicts, power sources, intersectionalities, and motivations.

Keynote speaker will be Mustafa Santiago Ali, Senior Vice President of Climate, Environmental Justice & Community Revitalization for the Hip Hop Caucus. In March 2017, Ali resigned his position as a top environmental justice administrator in the Environmental Protection Agency in protest of Trump administration policies. Ali worked at the EPA for more than two decades, starting in the administration of George H.W. Bush.

Other presentations and workshops will feature activists, community members, students, and researchers working on issues of environmental justice.

Registration and coffee begins at 8:30 am, with speakers, panels, and workshops throughout the day.

The forum—which is sponsored by Green is the New Black, The Dumpster Project, and the Third Coast Activist Resource Center—is free but please register online.

For more information on sponsorship, contact Karen Magid, kmagid@htu.edu, or Amanda Masino, ammasino@htu.edu.

In the past four years, Huston-Tillotson University has introduced an Environmental Studies major; created the Center for Sustainability and Environmental Justice with a full time Sustainability Director; made green improvements to campus such as a 240kW rooftop solar array, organic food garden, and rainscape; and supported student environmental leadership development through campus organization Green is the New Black. Huston-Tillotson University hosted Earth Day Austin 2017.

Location: Dickey-Lawless Science Building, Huston-Tillotson University, 900 Chicon St., Austin, 78702, with free parking in the Chalmers Avenue lot and free street parking around campus.