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ABOUT EGA

CONTACT US

We look forward to hearing from you!

Environmental Grantmakers Association
55 Exchange Place, Suite 405
New York, NY 10005
T: 646.747.2655
F: 646.747.2656

Rachel Goldstein
Interim Executive Director
rgoldstein@ega.org

Rachel Goldstein
Development Manager
rgoldstein@ega.org
contact on: grants, dues, event registration

Frances Pimentel
Operations Manager
fpimentel@ega.org
contact on: general inquiries, listserv, accounting

Jason K. Babbie
Membership Services Program Director
jkb@ega.org
contact on: membership services, event information

Luis Davila
Enhancing the Field Director
ldavila@ega.org
contact on: affinity group partnerships, enhancing the field projects

EGA Staff

Dana Lanza is the Executive Director of the Environmental Grantmakers Association. Her purpose is to help diverse member organizations become more effective and informed grantmakers in support of a more sustainable world. She has a long-standing and remarkable history in championing ecological and environmental justice.

At the age of 28, Dana founded Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ), which brought free urban environmental education projects to more than 10,000 public school students, while employing hundreds of at risk youth as community advocates. During her tenure at LEJ, she acted as a lead organizer in the closure of San Francisco’s infamous Hunters Point Power Plant; later raising funds to supplant it with the region’s first off-the-grid Eco Center. She has taught in the Master's in Teaching Program in Critical Global Literacy at New College of California, and has been a fellow at the Donnella Meadows Leaders Fellowship Program in Systems Theory and the California Women’s Foundation Policy Institute.

Dana has extensive experience working on issues of wetland conservation, sustainable building design, environmental education, food systems, and environmental health and justice. A recipient of several environmental awards, she has presented at Bioneers, the American Public Health Association, and the European Foundation Center, among others. In 2005, she contributed to the anthology titled Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World. Prior to these achievements, Dana lived and worked among the Samburu people in northern Kenya for many years, as well as the Lakota in South Dakota.

Rachel GoldsteinRachel Goldstein is currently the Development Manager at EGA, having served as the Membership Program Director from 2002 - 2007. She is also extremely close to finishing her doctoral dissertation from the University of Greenwich in southeast London, which explores alternative Jewish identities and political activism in New York City and London. Previously, she taught undergraduates on sociology, inequalities, and other social issues and helped organize for a graduate employee union at the University of Illinois. She has served on the board of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and successfully completed the 2004 New York City Marathon. Additionally, she enjoys yoga, running, volunteering, traveling, cooking, photography, live music, and dancing. Originally Midwesterners, Rachel lives in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York with her husband and son.

Jason K. Babbie is the Membership Services Program Director at EGA, where he is responsible for helping members strategize and collaborate on their efforts, and working with staff and planning committee members to prepare the National Policy Briefings, Regional Briefings, and aspects of the Annual Retreats. Jason BabbieFrom 2000 to the start of 2008, Jason was the Senior Environmental Policy Analyst for the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), where he directed the organization's state-level clean air, energy, and global warming legislative and regulatory campaigns and all federal environmental activities. During his tenure at NYPIRG, Jason was instrumental in the state’s proposed carbon dioxide and final mercury emissions limits on power plants, energy efficiency standards for products and appliances, and clean renewable energy requirement, among other successful initiatives.

He was also an adjunct professor at Pace University teaching Environmental Politics and Policy for a semester, the Air and Energy Program Director at Environmental Advocates of New York, and a consultant to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. Jason is Chair of the Board of Trustees for Kids Against Pollution and a member of SustainUS’s Board of Directors. He was a member of the Board of Reviewers for the Queens Clean Air Project, member of the Brookhaven Clean Energy Task Force, and member of NYPIRG's Board of Directors. Jason holds an M.A. in Environmental Policy from Brown University and a B.S. in Environmental Studies, Policy and Management from the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry. In his spare time, he likes to hike, travel, visit museums and galleries, and eat good vegetarian food. He lives in Manhattan.

Luis Davila is the Enhancing the Field Director at the Environmental Grantmakers Association. Previously, Luis was the Hispanic Initiative Director at Junior Achievement of New York, where he led the planning and implementation of a the first effort to infuse diversity into the organization's business model through creating an advisory council made up by high-profile Latino leaders in New York City.

Luis DavilaAs Associate Director at the Global Youth Action Network, Luis consistently advocated for creating safe spaces for youth participation at all levels of decision-making by creating partnerships with a variety of international development agencies.  He specifically led the organization's work in promoting youth participation at environmental policy processes such as the UN Commission on Sustainable Development following the Johannesburg Summit.

Luis has also worked with governments such as the regional government of Nuevo Leon in Mexico and the National Assembly of Wales, non-governmental organizations such as the Open Society Institute (OSI), and UN agencies such as the UNDP Regional Center in Bangkok and UNDP Guyana.

Luis is also the co-founder and task force member of the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS, a UNAIDS and UNFPA-supported alliance of young people working to battle the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Luis has a BS (Cum Laude) in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University (USA), and graduate coursework from the Inter-American Institute for Social Development, University of Ghent (Belgium), Charles University (Czech Republic) and the University of Bolzano (Italy).

Luis lives in New York City with his wife.

Fellows and Interns

Nicole Ardoin, EGA FellowNicole Ardoin is working as a Switzer fellow with EGA’s Enhancing the Field Program where her research focuses on funding for environmental education, education for sustainability, and related areas. Nicole is conducting interviews with foundation leaders to explore whether and how the traditional concept of environmental education may be taking different forms in programs emphasizing youth development, food systems and sustainable agriculture, and environmental justice, among others.

Nicole is currently completing her Ph.D. in Social Ecology at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where her research examines the relationship among sense of place, environmental behavior, and ecoregion-scale conservation. The results of this work will be used by conservation organizations in planning and developing environmental education programs to be implemented at ecoregional scales.

Franny Chiles is an intern for the summer of 2008. She graduated in May from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma WA with a major in Politics and Government and a minor in Environmental Studies. Franny ChilesFranny's senior thesis "The Politicization of the EPA in the Bush Administration" received the researcher award for the best U.S. politics senior thesis. Previously, Franny worked as an intern at Congressman Norm Dicks district office in Tacoma. She spent the spring semester of 2007 studying New Zealand Politics and American Studies at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. In her spare time, Franny enjoys backpacking, skiing, tennis, and traveling. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area she currently lives in Manhattan. Franny hopes to continue with a career in environmental policy.

 

Consultants

Linda Ann SmithLinda Ann Smith
Event Planner
Environmental Resource Specialists, Inc.
T 303.690.4245


Miranda SpencerMiranda Spencer
Editorial Consultant and Freelance Writer

T 267.258.3328

 

 


Eisenkraft CPA & Consulting
274 Madison Avenue, STE 1106
New York, NY 10016
T 212.689.2655
gary@eisenkraftcpa.com

 

UC Consulting, LLC
P.O.BOX 4035
Sunnyside, NY 11104

Phone: 646-330-7686 / 917-450-2886
Fax: 866-221-9139

 

Photo Credits: Derek Chung, Virginia Clarke-Laskin, Rachel Goldstein, Johanna Hull, Kate Parvin, Jeanine Smalley, Linda Ann Smith, Jennifer Sun, Eric Waters.

 

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55 Exchange Place, Suite 405, New York, NY 10005 T 646 747-2655 F 646 747-2656 ega(at)ega.org