Webinar description:

In this webinar, Running Grass applies three interdependent systems of ecologies, cultures, and communities to environmental education. By watching this webinar, you will reflect on how we can improve educational programs by integrating the principles of culturally authentic community engagement. These principles include cultural humility, power analysis, supporting community ownership, and more. Another important take-home message is that we can create better communities by affirming the differences and embracing everyone's identities and cultural legacies.

This webinar was presented in the Environmental Education & Community Engagement online course on May 17, 2022, organized by the Civic Ecology Lab at Cornell University as part of the ee360+ project. (webinar host: Alex Kudryavtsev).

About Running Grass:

Running Grass is a longtime social and environmental justice activist and educator. He was one of the 300 delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991, which launched the Environmental Justice Movement onto the national stage. Running Grass is widely recognized for his work in multicultural environmental education, a term and field he is credited for founding, as director of Three Circles Center. His work in community organizing and education led him to a 22-year career at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he served as Environmental Justice Coordinator in San Francisco and Seattle.  

He has recently retired from EPA and now consults with universities, community organizations, and educational nonprofits on issues of cultural and racial diversity, equity, and inclusion. He is a senior lecturer and founding faculty member of the Urban Environmental Education Program at Antioch University Graduate School in Seattle, Washington. He is a member of  Governor Inslee's Washington State Environmental Justice Council. Running Grass identifies with the African diaspora and lives in the Puget Sound region on the traditional territory of the Suquamish Tribe.

About ee360+ 

An ambitious multi-year initiative, the ee360+ Leadership and Training Collaborative connects, trains, and promotes innovative leaders dedicated to using the power of education to create a more just and sustainable future for everyone, everywhere. Led by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE), ee360+ is made possible through funding and support from US EPA and twenty seven partner organizations representing universities and nonprofits across the country, and five federal agencies. Through this partnership, ee360+ brings together more than five decades of expertise to grow, strengthen, and diversify the environmental education field.