New regulations and grant programs are increasingly requiring project teams to meaningfully engage with the people who will be most affected by their proposals, particularly when projects take place in environmental justice communities. What does meaningful community engagement look like, and how does it affect project outcomes?

This Climate Adaptation Forum will help new and long-term practitioners alike understand what skills and practices are involved and what benefits are possible when project teams and community members partner to identify both problems and viable solutions to climate challenges.

The program will also include an hour-long professionally facilitated exercise to engage participants (both in-person and virtual) in a challenging and fun interactive activity focused on community engagement in climate resilience projects. The exercise will be led by Carri Hulet of CH Consulting who previously taught at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

View the Final Agenda

View the Presentations

Forum Recording

Forum Speakers

Vicente S. Harrison
Health, Safety, and Emergency Manager
Vibrant Communities Support Services
Parks & Recreation, City of Portland, OR

Crystal Johnson
Assistant Secretary
Office of Environmental Justice and Equity
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Melissa Liu
Participatory Budgeting and Engagement Coordinator
City of Cambridge

Fidel Maltez
City Manager
City of Chelsea, MA

Bianca Navarro-Bowman
Climate Justice Manager
GreenRoots

Exercise Leader

Carri Hulet
Principal
CH Consulting

Forum Co-Chairs

Carolyn Norkiewicz
Regional Coordinator for Greater Boston
Municipal Vulnerability Program
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Commonwealth of Massachusetts

John Valinch
ESG Analyst
Boston Trust Walden

Julie Wormser
Senior Policy Advisor
Mystic River Watershed Association