FALL ‘23
Seasonal Summaries
A PROFESSIONALS OF COLOR IN THE ENVIRONMENT (POCIE) NEWSLETTER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Upcoming Events + Announcements
- Winter Social Speakeasy..............................................3
- Next Speaker - J. Cedric Woods........................4
- Schmidt Ocean Institute Funding.....................5
- Our First Full-Time Employee.............................6
- Our First Intern.............................................................................7
Fall ‘23 Recap
- Environmental Fellows Mentorship Program................................................................................................................9
- UMass Boston Community - University Open House....................................................................................................13
We are back for POCIE Seasonal Summaries round two! We have a lot to share this time around, so grab a blanket and a snack, get cozy, and let us catch you up!
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Winter Social - Speakeasy + Open Mic
Come warm up at our Winter Social! We will be gathering at a local speakeasy for warm drinks (non-alcoholic and alcoholic), good bites, and great music from a special guest performer!
We will also be opening the mic up to all of you. We know our community is full of talented leaders in the environment, but we want to see and hear what moves you in your personal lives - whether it be song, instrumental pieces, spoken word, poetry, a written piece, the visual arts, dance, sculpting, or pretty much anything else you can think of. There is no obligation to share - as always you are always welcome to come and enjoy the space with everyone and enjoy the show!
Date and location TBD after the New Year - if you have a favorite spot or any recommendations please let us know (jrussell@pocie.org)!
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Next Guest Speaker - J. Cedric Woods
We are thrilled to be joined by J. Cedric Woods, PhD on January 18th, 2024 for our first member meeting/guest speaker of the New Year!
Cedric is a citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. He combines over a decade of tribal government experience with a research background, and has served as the director of UMass Boston’s Institute for New England Native American Studies since 2009. Prior to arriving at UMass Boston, Cedric completed a study on the evolution of tribal government among the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.
Additionally, Cedric has consulted for the National Museum of the American Indian, the Haliwa Saponi Indian Tribe of North Carolina, and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. We couldn’t be more excited to have Cedric join us to start our year off on a high note. He will be joining us to speak to our community about his experience as an indigenous leader in Massachusetts, his research, and his experience moderating panels like the New England Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Climate Justice panel.
This meeting is January 18th, 2024 from 5PM-6:30PM. Please register here and we will send you a calendar invite before the event!
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Schmidt Ocean Institute Funding
This Fall, POCIE received $58,000 of funding from the Schmidt Ocean Institute to pour into an amazing professional development opportunity for BIPOC undergraduate and high school students in the marine, coastal, and tidal fields.
With this, we will pay three university undergraduate students to work directly under the guidance of members of POCIE’s community on six-month projects related to marine, coastal, or tidal conservation. We are beyond grateful to POCIE members Melissa Ocana, Pallavi K. Mande, and Nasser Brahim, who will be mentoring these students as they take on projects at their organizations. The students will work under their mentors in collaboration with the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC), The Massachusetts Ecosystem Climate Adaptation Network’s (ECAN) Salt Marsh Work Group (SMWG), and the Woods Hole Group.
On top of the students receiving guidance from Melissa, Pallavi, and Nasser, they will also have a chance to serve as mentors themselves: we will be able to pair high school students with each undergraduate student for a paid summer internship. The high school students will contribute to the undergraduate’s project, and gain experience working in the marine, coastal, or tidal fields with their two mentors. We hope that this paid program can allow both high school and undergraduate students to conduct and present valuable research, and ultimately serve as a building block towards full-time employment.
Formal position descriptions and application instructions will be out shortly. If this sounds like something you or someone you know would be interested in, please feel free to contact John (jrussell@pocie.org) for more info!
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Our First Full Time Employee
Hi all - John here again.
I am extremely grateful to announce that starting January 1st, I will be switching from 30 hours a week to POCIE’s first full-time employee!
Personally, this group has been such a blessing for me. I found POCIE at a critical inflexion point in my life, and the opportunity to work with this amazing community has been a source of inspiration and hope. To quote a POCIE member’s reflection that resonated with me: POCIE spaces often allow for the feeling of “taking a deeper breath than I’ve been able to take in a long time”. I’d like to thank all of you for showing up, for being true to yourselves, and for constantly offering your time, energy, and expertise to help advance equity and remove barriers for BIPOC in environmental spaces in Massachusetts.
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Our First Intern!
POCIE is looking to take on a part-time communications intern in 2024! We are looking to take on an intern responsible for managing and increasing POCIE’s online presence and engagement. We encourage all to apply, especially those with a stated academic or personal interest in environmental/climate justice, communications, and marketing. This is a great opportunity for an undergraduate or graduate student to work in direct collaboration with POCIE’s Operations Manager and Founders, and to have creative freedom in project development and implementation. Full job description and application instructions here!
NOTE: POCIE is committed to paying anyone who works with us, joins us as a guest speaker, or is otherwise providing services fully and fairly. At this moment, we do not have the budget to pay an intern, and thus are only looking to take on an intern that can program funding or equivalent college credit from their university as compensation for their time.
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The Heritage Harvest - 10/15/23
Our Fall Gathering was everything we hoped for and more!
We were blessed to partner with the Urban Farming Institute (UFI) in Mattapan, and chef and founder of Food and Folklore Tamika R. Francis to bring you the Heritage Harvest. We spent a day focused on food justice, community, and cultural cuisine.
Tamika led us in cooking classes, where our community made Rastafarian “Ital” stew, and chipotle spiced black-eyed peas (Hoppin’ John). While prepping and cooking these two incredible dishes, Tamika facilitated discussions on food and identity, and the socio-political history of the two dishes being made. Click the links above for recipes and the history!
On top of that, we had the chance to learn about the cultures, cuisines, and stories of our members. In tandem with the dishes Tamika taught us, we were blessed by the cooking of our members during the communal potluck! Members brought a favorite dish from their childhood, culture, or home country. We shared memories and stories with the food - with discussions around what the food means to us, where we first tried it, the dish’s symbolism in our respective cultures, and more. Thank you to everyone who came out for the event, and we look forward to seeing you all in person this Winter!
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POCIE x Mass Audubon Mentorship Program
Mentor - Mentee bonding!
Recently, we paired POCIE members with six early-career professionals from Mass Audubon’s Environmental Fellowship Program.
Mentorship is critical for the career development and success of early-career professionals, especially for people traditionally underrepresented in the field. This program aims to address these gaps, and build pathways for early-career BIPOC environmentalists. Thank you to our mentors and Fellows pushing to change the landscape of MA's environmental sector!
Thank you to mentors Gail Latimore, Dira Johanif, Rishya Narayanan, Pallavi K. Mande, Marissa Zampino, and Nasser Brahim, and to the incredible environmental fellows Bobbie D. Norman, Fana Scott, Priya Dixit, Anna He, Taylor Lo, and Meenakshi Jani!
Pictured here: Mentor Gail Latimore and Mentee Bobbie D Norman.
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Member Spotlight
Pallavi Kalia Mande (she/her)
Pallavi Pallavi Mande is the Director of Climate Resilient Design at the BSC Group, and one POCIE’s first members. Pallavi is trained as an architect, urban designer and environmental planner, and has been working in various professional capacities for over 23 years. She is originally from New Delhi, India, where she completed her undergraduate degree in architecture before being awarded the Inlaks Scholarship to pursue an MPhil in Environment and Development at the University of Cambridge in the UK. Pallavi also holds a second graduate degree in Architecture and Urban Design from Washington University in St Louis.
In 2004, Pallavi joined the Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA), and founded the Blue Cities Initiative to lead the planning, design, and implementation of green infrastructure across the Charles, Mystic, and Neponset River watersheds. In 2016 Pallavi was awarded the prestigious Loeb Fellowship from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She returned to CRWA in 2017 as the Director of Watershed Resilience. Pallavi has always enjoyed teaching and mentoring in the environmental field, and is currently serving as a mentor for both POCIE’s current mentorship program, and upcoming Schmidt-funded internship/mentorship program. On top of all this, Pallavi is an active member of POCIE’s strategic planning Steering Committee.
We can’t thank Pallavi enough for her monumental efforts as a member of POCIE’s community!
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Fall Member Meetings: Solidarity and Grieving
It has been an immensely painful year for many communities globally, as we continue to bear witness to seemingly endless depravations of humanity in Palestine, Congo, Sudan, and more. We set aside our bi-monthly member meeting on November 16th, 2023 as a space for solidarity and grieving. We hoped to offer members a safe space to share our feelings, grieve, and be in community to check in on the well-being of one another.
POCIE reiterates that we stand with oppressed people worldwide, and are in solidarity with Palestine, Congo, and Sudan especially during this intense and ongoing period of crisis and grief.
List of learning and action resources to stand in solidarity with Palestine.
List of learning and action resources to stand in solidarity with Sudan.
Background of the current crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Note - if anyone has a more comprehensive list of materials please share with John (jrussell@pocie.org)
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Mass Cultural Council (MCC) Grant
Our First Annual Day of Wellness was a huge hit this Summer! We wanted to make sure we are back and better than ever for year two - and with the help of the $2,500 Mass Cultural Council Festivals and Activities Grant, we can do just that. We are excited to bring our community an even better experience for the Summer 2024 Day of Wellness.
Thank you to the Mass Cultural Council!
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UMass Boston Community University Open House - 10/25/23
The UMass Boston Community-University Open House was an excellent opportunity for community organizations, agencies, civic and business leaders, and UMass Boston campus members to build partnerships. The Open House provided an opportunity for attendees to learn from one another, build organic connections, and brainstorm together possible new collaborations while strengthening existing partnerships.
We built a number of connections that we are working to expand our programming with - thank you to Cynthia Orellana and UMass Boston for putting on the event and for the invitation to attend!
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A NOTE TO OUR MEMBERS
We are always looking for speakers for our bi-monthly member meetings, events and gatherings to attend, and of course your requests from us. Please do not hesitate to contact us regarding professional development needs, community building ideas, potential collaborations, and anything else you need or want to get out of being part of POCIE’s community. We are here to support you as best as possible, and are always available to discuss what that looks like and how we can meet your needs.
If you are not a POCIE member, you can join our community here, and find us on LinkedIn or Instagram
CONTACT INFO
Please reach out to John directly (jrussell@pocie.org) with any questions, concerns, suggestions, or just to get in touch! Also feel free to reach out to POCIE founders individually: Nia Keith (nkeith@pocie.org), Rishya Narayanan (rnarayanan@pocie.org), Danielle Perry (dperry@pocie.org), and Melanie Gárate (mgarate@pocie.org).
Thanks for reading!
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
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