This Working Group is intended for BIPOC identified faculty, staff, administration, students, community partners, champions, and advocates of HBCU and MSI institutions in and beyond Second Nature's
Climate Leadership Network. This Working Group is the result of intentional and authentic relationship building, and strategic planning which we hope to continue to cultivate into 2024. This Working Group was also made possible by Second Nature's partnership with
Black Sustainability, Inc.
The purpose of creating this group is to collectively strategize on how HBCUs, MSIs, and Tribal Colleges can build, grow, and sustain their capacity to advance climate action and sustainability initiatives, and how
Second Nature can support this effort with our new strategic approach to membership, and ongoing programming and engagement.
This Working Group moves at the pace of the direct feedback of our members, and is democratically driven with an explicit focus on racial equity. Developing and building long lasting community is a top priority of this group. We will also focus on developing educational materials, creating a peer mentorship framework with our partners at
Intentional Endowments Network, and others, and help each other advocate for action for our respective institutions, as well as share best practices in moving this action and work forward.
Historical Context:
The group originally formed to create original programming and session content for the 2023 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit and to inform relationship development and outreach efforts. It was quickly identified through surveying and member feedback that there was interest in making this a formalized meeting and community space.
During the 2023 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit the Working Group convened the first of its kind BIPOC affinity session entitled, "BIPOC Leaders Advancing Climate Action at HBCUs and MSIs". Since then, the working group voted to become its own 'think tank', to inform ongoing Second Nature programming geared towards their institution types, to inform racial equity centered approaches to this programming and related efforts, and to create a dynamic space to grapple with the routine challenges and opportunities in the work of climate action and resilience planning that many of our contacts face. Since the 2023 Summit, the working group has notably hosted a Carbon Offsets workshop for HBCUs and MSIs, a Book Discussion with Dr. Ife Kilimanjaro, and a group dinner and networking session at the 2023 HBCU Climate Change Conference in New Orleans. On Monday February, 12th, the working group hosted their second BIPOC affinity session at the 2024 Higher Education Climate Leadership summit entitled, "Boots on the Ground, Sustaining, Nurturing, and Advancing Climate Action and Practice at HBCUs and MSIs". The historic attendance at this summit was a significant result of the relationships built and sustained through this working group and related nodes of institutional and organizational outreach, notably a partnership with UNCF's Institute for Capacity Building who was a major strategic partner at the summit.
Meeting Time:
We meet on the third Tuesday of the month, from 3-4pm EST.
Our current meeting schedule is as follows for 2024 in EST:
- Mar 19, 2024 03:00 PM
- Apr 16, 2024 03:00 PM
- May 21, 2024 03:00 PM
- Jun 18, 2024 03:00 PM
- Jul 16, 2024 03:00 PM
- Aug 20, 2024 03:00 PM
- Sep 17, 2024 03:00 PM
- Oct 15, 2024 03:00 PM
- Nov 19, 2024 03:00 PM
- Dec 17, 2024 03:00 PM
Please fill out the following questions to submit your interest to join this working group.
Please contact Blythe Coleman-Mumford, Climate Programs Manager of HBCU/MSI Engagement and BIPOC Affinity Programming at bcoleman-mumford@secondnature.org for more information and for any questions you may have.
