Press release from Center for Diversity Education at UNC Asheville:
“Everybody’s Environment: Voices of Community and Conservation,” a day-long conference on Oct. 10, will bring together area environmental and conservation organizations to develop campaigns and strategies for a more inclusive environmental movement. Although the percentage of ethnic minorities in these organizations has grown, it is still disproportionately low compared to current demographics in the United States, and is especially low in environmental organizations in Western North Carolina.
The conference, hosted by UNC Asheville’s Center for Diversity Education, will focus on creating awareness, building relationships and fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in regional environmental organizations. The Sierra Club of Western North Carolina, the Wilderness Society, Dogwood Alliance, Conservation Trust for North Carolina, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Mountain People’s Assembly, RiverLink, Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, Housing Authority of the City of Asheville, U.S. National Park Service, and U.S. Forest Service are among the organizations participating.
In addition to workshops and tours of neighborhood urban gardens, the conference will include a keynote address by Melanie Allen, conservation and diversity coordinator for the Raleigh-based Conservation Trust for North Carolina.
The conference will be held at the Dr. Wesley Grant Sr., Southside Center at 285 Livingston St. in Asheville. Registration is $50 fee for board and staff members of environmental and conservation organizations, and free to community members. For more information or to register, visit diversityed.org/everybodysenvironment, or contact Deborah Miles, executive director of the Center for Diversity Education, at dmiles@unca.edu.
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