Color Of Water

Elevating Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and other voices of color to change the narrative around water.

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Benu Amun Ra

S.A.C.R.Ed Eco-Center

Nataly Escobedo Garcia

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Rob Larson

Grand Valley State University

Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Andrea León-Grossmann

Vote Solar

Pita Juarez

Comms Consultant

John Echohawk

Native American Rights Fund

Walt Walker

TYLin

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Ean Tafoya

GreenLatinos

Oluwole (OJ) McFoy

Houston Public Works

Felice Green

Milwaukee Water Commons

Rhea Drozdenko

Connecticut River Conservancy

Sydney Garcia

The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Nikki Tulley

University of Arizona

Monica Driggers

Massachusetts Rivers Alliance

Nicole Chavas

Greenprint Partners

Pallavi Bharadwaj

SEG

Angela Guyadeen

NRDC

Adriana Renteria

State Water Board

Bre’Shaun Reddick

Alliance for the Great Lakes

Crystal Davis

National Parks Conservation Association

Ani Jayakaran

Washington State University

Sonali Abraham

Pacific Institute

Jo Banner

The Descendants Project

Marc Oliver Quijano

Jacobs

Emma Robbins

The Chapter House

Newsha Ajami

Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

Veronica Garibay

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Arsum Pathak

National Wildlife Federation

Kabir Thatte

The Vessel Collective

Nicole Nelson

Equity Legal Services, Inc

Tony Bridges

The Maryland General Assembly

Jaiden Willeto

Northern Arizona University / K'é Infoshop

Elizabeth Ruiz

CA State Water Resources Control Board

Ngodoo Atume

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

Jazmin Ricks

University of Pennsylvania

Maisah Khan

Regenerative Agriculture Foundation

Alex Ortiz

Austin Water and Wastewater Commission

Lenise Marrero

Brown and Caldwell

Shandin Pete

University of British Columbia

Nadine Robertson

Veolia North America

Kedar Dabhadkar

Lam Research

Paula Buchanan

National Center for Domestic Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School

Ciara Horne

SBG Digital

Maritza Mendoza

Empower DC

Olga Cano

HUD

Victor Galvan

Denver Mayor's Office for Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience

Wendy “Poppy” Ferris-George

Ferris Institute

Tanner Yess

Groundwork USA

Ayako Tischler

Xylem

Gabe Vasquez

US Congress

Kimbaya Carriere

Nuxalk First Nation

Khalid Osman

Stanford University

Joy Banner

The Descendants Project

Analise Rivero

California Trout

Cheyanne Harris

Brown and Caldwell

André Sanchez

California Wilderness Coalition

Nusrat Molla

Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University

Marccus Hendricks

University of Maryland - College Park

Talia London

The Common Acre

Susana De Anda

Community Water Center

Mahtaab Bagherzadeh

NWF/Clean Water for All

Nureen Faiza Anisha

Oregon State University

Temiloluwa Akinyemi

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Allen Townsend

World Wildlife Fund

Keiko Wilkins

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Angela M Chalk

Healthy Community Resources Services

Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes

GreenLatinos

Julian Gonzalez

Earthjustice

Rachele Lopez

Justice Outside

Dezaraye Bagalayos

Allensworth Progressive Association

Huda Alkaff

Wisconsin Green Muslims

Cate Mingoya-LaFortune

Groundwork USA

Nathaniel I Kollie

University of California Santa Cruz

Martin Griffin

Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District

Usman Mahmood

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Ruthie Redmond

UC Berkeley

Andrian Lee

BCM Environmental and Land Law, PLLC

Shama Perveen

Ceres

Val Schull

GreenLatinos

Sandi Matsumoto

The Nature Conservancy

Lucero Sanchez

San Diego Coastkeeper

Silvia R. Gonzalez

UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute

Thea Louis

MSC Industrial Supply Co.

Rene Henery

Trout Unlimited/ University of Nevada, Reno

Tanasia Swift

Billion Oyster Project

Jessica Thrasher

Colorado State University

Gia Moreno

Hood Community Council

Arohi Sharma

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Sidney Opiyo

University of California, Santa Cruz

Michael Méndez

UC Irvine

Olga Morales Pate

Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated

Cathie Chavez-Morris

Equidad Group

José M. Rodríguez-Flores

California State University, Monterey Bay

Jeremy Orr

Earthjustice

Daniela Sherrill

ASU / AZ Water for All

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Tiffany Sevilla

Greenprint Partners

Ashwin Dhanasekar

Brown and Caldwell

Quentin Stubbs

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Dira Johanif

Charles River Climate Compact

Billie Li

Wright-Pierce

Cindy Donis

East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice

Chauncey Foster

we.grow.eco

Rhysea Agrawal

The Xylom

Pablo Ortiz

Union of Concerned Scientists

Fernando Ramirez

Bridges 2023 International

Briana Muñoz

Pacific Coast Carbon LLC

Ehab Meselhe

Tulane University

Direlle Calica

Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI)

Cyatharine Alias

Center for Neighborhood Technology

Damian Shapes Padilla

Spirit Rock Consulting

Crystal Sanders-Alvarado

Seaworthy

Charming Evelyn

OceanWell Water

Vinicius Taguchi

North Carolina State University

Carolan Sonderegger

For Love of Water

Chriscilia Cox

SUMA Consulting LLC

Danielle Rivera

University of California Berkeley

Frank Ruiz

The Office of U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz

Xochitl Bervera

Near Futures Projects/Water is Life Oysters

Sarah Traore

The University of Texas at Austin

Roland Jones

CIS

Angela Mooney D’Arcy

Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples

Portia Shepherd

Blackbelt Women Rising

Patricia Lindsay-Harvey

Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority

Heather Tanana

University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Carlos Calderon

West Michigan Environmental Action Council

Bleu Adams

IndigeHub

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Priscila Alves

University of Maryland

Alyssa Senturk

California Water Data Consortium

Jacob Bernal

American Rivers

Alondra Hernandez-Bose

WEAT

Jose Luis Ortiz y Muniz

Greenroots Institute

Daniel Cordalis

Native American Rights Fund

Vicky Espinoza

CaliWaterAg

Alyssa Senturk

California Water Data Consortium

Parsa Saffarinia

University of California, Davis

Aria Harris

TYLin

Breanna Gonzalez

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Maria Elena Kennedy

Kennedy Communications, Inc

Sapna Mulki

Environmental Policy Innovation Center

Bridget Ray

Washington State Department of Commerce

Oday Salim

University of Michigan Law School

Afia Zakiya

Independent Africana Studies and EJ scholar-activist, currently Executive Director of Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation

Emily Warren Armitano

Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Alastair Bitsóí

Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President

Ed Marin

Louisville Water

Sri Vedachalam

Cisolutions

Diana Piña Yitbarek

NC Department of Environmental Quality

Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš

Azul

Cate Caldwell

Illinois Environmental Council

Pedro Hernandez

GreenLatinos

Mallika Nocco

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Harshini Ratnayaka

Save the Dunes

Alai Reyes-Santos

University of Oregon

Angel Santiago Fernandez-Bou

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)

Esteban Ortiz

The Gorge Association of Aspirations/La Asociacion de Aspiraciones del Gorge

Sanjiv Sinha

Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, LLC.

Nieves Vazquez

Water For People

Cheyenne Holliday

Verde

Jessica Dandridge-Smith

The Water Collaborative

Joaquin Esquivel

California State Water Resources Control Board

Jasmine Walker

Ohio Environmental Council

Nasim Pica

WSP in the U.S.

Brenda Coley

Milwaukee Water Commons

Beth Roach

Sierra Club

Julia Fay Bernal

Pueblo Action Alliance

Charles Cassagnol

Western Ecology, LLC

Carlos Moran

Northeast Trees

Nahal G. Ipakchi

BluePoint Planning

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About Us

The Color of Water Initiative was created by the Water Hub to build voice and visibility for people of color in the water movement. Our goal is to connect reporters with a more diverse set of experts, and build capacity for these experts to elevate the stories of their communities, which have often been left out of conversations around water. 

 

From water access and drought response in the West to lead pipes and PFAS pollution in the Great Lakes to recurring flooding and water infrastructure failures in the South, Color of Water members have deep expertise and first-hand experience on water challenges and solutions all across the country.


Read the joint statement by Color of Water members on the importance of equity in the water world.

explore the Color of Water directory

experts across the country

Register to Join our Expert Directory

If you identify as a person of color with expertise in water (including lived experience or ancestral knowledge) or work in fields that intersect with water (like health, farming, housing, planning, etc.) please submit your information to us!

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