Newest Board Members Bring Environmental Protection and Climate Justice Expertise

As a progressive think tank, our mission is to leverage existing law and influence new policy to better protect people and our planet. To do this, we must understand and respond to the social movements of the day, with one foot immersed in the communities and lands we strive to protect and the other in government process and policy.

Alejandro Camacho, Sekita Grant, and Ajulo Othow are leaders in their respective fields, and they bring critical voices and perspectives to our organization. Among other experiences, they’ve worked with conservation and frontline communities on the West Coast, in Puerto Rico and in the Southeast. As CPR moves into its third decade, their rich set of experiences in and connections to the movements for good, effective governance and social justice are exactly what we need to move the needle of change forward.

Alejandro Camacho is a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, with deep expertise in government and governance, particularly as they relate to natural resources, public lands, pollution control, and land use. He has published numerous articles in leading academic journals and traditional news outlets. He also co-authored Reorganizing Government: A Functional and Dimensional Framework, a guide to good governance with a focus on climate change.

Sekita Grant is a vice president at The Solutions Project, a nonprofit organization that funds initiatives led by women and people of color to address pollution and climate change. In this role, she oversees grantmaking, policy research, and strategic support for more than 100 leaders in frontline communities across the country, including in Puerto Rico. She also teaches on environmental justice at Sacramento State University in California and was previously a Climate Justice Fellow with the Emerson Collective.

Ajulo Othow is founder and CEO of EnerWealth Solutions, a company that develops renewable energy projects that support small farmers and economic development in rural communities. A lawyer and former director at Oxfam America, Othow also serves on the Boards of North Carolina Clean Energy Fund and BOSS (Black Owners of Solar Services). She lives on a small farm in North Carolina that has been in her family for five generations.

Each leader has a demonstrated commitment to environmental protection, governmental reform, and climate justice — issues of utmost importance as CPR works to address the tipped scales of justice which harm the land and disadvantage people of color and low-wealth communities.

I’m heartened that Ajulo and Sekita will join our first-in-while board meeting in person next month and Alex will join formally our board in January. We are excited to work with them as CPR enhances its portfolio of research and advocacy on behalf of all people and the planet.