Jacqueline Patterson is the Founder and Executive Director of the Chisholm Legacy Project: A Resource Hub for Black Frontline Climate Justice Leadership. The mission of the Chisholm Legacy Project is rooted in a Just Transition Framework, serving as a vehicle to connect Black communities on the frontlines of climate justice with the resources to actualize visions.
Prior to the launch of the Chisholm Legacy Project, Patterson served as the Senior Director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program for over a decade. During her tenure, she founded and implemented a robust portfolio which included serving the state and local leadership whose constituencies consisted of hundreds of communities on the frontlines of environmental injustice. She led a team in designing and implementing a portfolio to support political education and organizing work executed by NAACP branches, chapters, and state conferences.
Patterson has dedicated her career to intersectional approaches to systems change. Working with frontline communities from Kampala, Uganda to Kansas City, USA to Kingston, Jamaica, her passion for social justice led her to serve as coordinator & co-founder of Women of Color United; Senior Women’s Rights Policy Analyst for ActionAid; Assistant Vice-President of HIV/AIDS Programs for IMA World Health, Outreach Project Associate for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Research Coordinator for Johns Hopkins University, and U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica.
Patterson holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves on the Advisory Boards for Center for Earth Ethics, Environmental Justice Movement Fellowship, and the Hive Fund for Gender and Climate Justice, on the Governance Assemblies for Mosaic Momentum, and Collectrify, as well as on the Boards of Directors for the Institute of the Black World, the Bill Anderson Fund, Movement Strategy Center, the Just Solutions Collective, the National Black Workers Center Project, and Ceres.
In March 2024, Patterson was honored to be named as one of Time Magazine’s Women of the Year as well as receiving the Time Magazine Earth Award.
Irma R. Muñoz is the Founder and Executive Director of Mujeres de la Tierra-a 20-year-old environmental equity non-profit located in Los Angeles, California.
She is recognized for her leadership and development of creative and impactful approaches with community engagement and community listening that results in both collective and individual empowerment of community residents.
Her work includes defining and developing culturally relevant approaches and messaging platforms to neighborhoods who traditionally have been “overlooked and ignored” neighborhoods and communities. She has developed the “platica” model as an avenue to secure opinions and conversations from individuals who have never been asked for their opinion, invited to a community meeting or acknowledged for their community worth. She has been recognized by many organizations for her trailblazing work including the Anacostia Smithsonian Museum, Green Latinos, the City of Los Angeles, FOLAR (Friends of the Los Angeles River), the Watershed Health Council and River LA.
One of her proudest achievements was to be a member of the Bill Clinton Presidential Administration serving at the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington DC. She led a team that successfully increased lending and business development opportunities to small businesses of color as well as women.
She has served on several boards and commissions including the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board appointed by Governors Brown and Newsom. After serving for over 10 years, she retired in mid-2023. She currently represents the City of Los Angeles on the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy as an appointee of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Eric Garcetti and Karen Bass.
She believes in the importance of community service and provides support and guidance to folks interested in serving on boards and commissions. She inspired the MLK Tree Grove Monument located at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Park. She is a community activist, advocate and champion for social equity issues.
She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Arts degree and earned a Juris Doctorate from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law.
Michael is a Junior at Larchmont Charter School in Los Angeles, where they are a principal’s high honor recipient for obtaining a 4.0 GPA. They are currently a business intern at the Bresee Foundation as well as the lead engineer of the Larchmont Charter School’s hydrogen-powered remote control car team.
Senator (Ret.) Vanessa Delgado was appointed to the South Coast AQMD Governing Board in May 2019. She was appointed by the California State Senate Rules Committee and is looking forward to advancing air quality goals for the region.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Vanessa is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and attended public school in Boyle Heights and graduated from Westridge High School in Pasadena. She received her undergraduate education at Stanford University with a dual major in Political Science and Chicano/a Studies and graduated with honors. She then completed a Master of Public Administration at the University of Southern California (USC) as a Dean’s Fellow.
She began her career in public service working for the cities of Pico Rivera, Anaheim and Downey, in Economic Development. Vanessa also spent eleven years as the Director of Development for Primestor Development and was a member of its Executive Team. She was responsible for managing Primestor projects through the development and construction cycle, community and government relations and marketing.
Ms. Delgado is now the founder and Managing Partner of Azure Development. Azure creates, designs and builds exceptional housing communities and commercial projects throughout the Southwest. Azure is currently developing affordable housing for homeless families in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles, townhomes for working class families in Bell Gardens and a commercial shopping center in Bellflower. Azure is also under contract to build fourteen CVS pharmacies throughout Los Angeles County and processes complicated land use entitlements for select private clients.
Vanessa pursued her passion for public service work and ran for office in 2015. She was elected to the City Council of the City of Montebello in November 2015 and served as the Mayor in 2017. While at the City, she worked extensively to find long-term budget solutions and spent time focusing on economic development opportunities to attract new businesses to the Community. Mayor Delgado also served as a Board Member in the regional Gateway Cities Council of Governments to help craft regional solutions common to many small cities.
In 2018, she was elected to serve as a State Senator for District 32 and completed a short-term. She authored Senate Bill 1012 to help unite cities and counties in providing services for those experiencing homelessness and was active with assisting local organizations and cities in the district.
She lives in Montebello with her daughter Isabella and their pets.
On February 1, 2008, South Pasadena Council Member Michael Cacciotti became the South Coast AQMD Governing Board representative for the 34-city L.A. County Eastern Region.
Cacciotti was elected to the South Pasadena City Council in 2001 and was re-elected in 2005. He was chosen by his fellow council members to serve as Mayor in 2003-2004 and 2007-2008. He served as Mayor Pro Tem in 2006-2007. He most recently served as Mayor for the 2016-2017 term and as Mayor Pro Tem for the 2015-16 term.
Over the past few years, Council Member Cacciotti has been actively involved in raising awareness of environmental issues. In 2006, South Pasadena won a Clean Air Award from South Coast AQMD in the category of Model Community Achievement. He instituted the South Coast AQMD Electric Lawn Mower Exchange and Leaf Blower Exchange programs in the city. In addition, he was responsible for the city’s adoption of a low-emission vehicle (LEV) purchase policy, which was subsequently adopted by the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments.
He currently serves as liaison to the city Library Board of Trustees and is a member of the Ad Hoc Arroyo Seco Golf Course and Racquet Centre Lease Committee. He also represents the city on the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments. He is the alternate on the Gold Line Phase II Joint Powers Authority Board. In the recent past, he served on a council subcommittee to limit legal expenditures and chaired a committee that reviewed the San Pasqual Stables lease. In 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2015, he visited China as part of trips for elected officials and established relationships between South Pasadena and several Chinese cities.
Council Member Cacciotti is a deputy attorney general with the State of California Department of Justice. Previously, he was a deputy state attorney with the California Department of Transportation, and prior to that he served as an attorney for the speaker pro tem of the California State Assembly. Council Member Cacciotti taught high school in Miami, Florida, before becoming an attorney. He possesses a United States Soccer Federation National “B” license and has been active as a soccer coach at the youth, high school, and college levels for more than 30 years.
Council Member Imelda Padilla is an experienced coalition builder with 20 years of community leadership. Ms. Padilla was born in Van Nuys and grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Sun Valley where she was raised along with her 5 siblings. From a very young age, Ms. Padilla has been advocating for the residents of the San Fernando Valley to have adequate resources to thrive and she has a proven record of producing outcomes in policy and programs. Over the years, she has brought together leaders from across labor unions, businesses, faith-based communities, along with elected officials to enhance prosperity for all Angelenos. She has served in multiple capacities from mobilizing a Valley coalition to raise the minimum wage, to creating the Adelante Youth Summit, to launching the Women and Girls Initiative with the County of Los Angeles and serving as President of the Valley College Foundation.
Ms. Padilla attended LAUSD public schools and received her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California Berkeley, with a minor in philosophy and Chicano studies. In 2015, she earned her Master’s in Public Administration at Cal State Northridge.
On August 1st, 2023, Ms. Padilla was officially sworn in to represent District 6 on the Los Angeles City Council, after her win in the June 27th special election. In March 2024, she was elected to serve her first full term as Council Member.
Martin Estrada is the United States Attorney for the Central District of California. Following two decades of demonstrated excellence in the legal field, he was nominated for the position in June 2022 by President Joe Biden and was confirmed by the Senate in September 2022.
As United States Attorney, Mr. Estrada oversees the investigation and litigation of all criminal and civil cases brought on behalf of the United States in the Central District of California, which is the largest U.S. Attorney’s Office outside of D.C., serving seven counties and nearly 20 million people.
Mr. Estrada began his law career as a clerk for Judge Robert J. Timlin of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and then for Judge Arthur L. Alarcón of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Moving into private practice in 2004, Mr. Estrada served as an associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson.
In 2007, Mr. Estrada transitioned to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, where he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. During his time in this position, he served as the deputy chief of the Violent and Organized Crime Section and the International Organized Crime Coordinator. His prosecution of a broad array of significant criminal cases earned him numerous recognitions, including the Director’s Award for Superior Performance from the Department of Justice.
Mr. Estrada returned in 2014 to Munger, Tolles & Olson, where he worked as a partner until assuming his current role.
Mr. Estrada has repeatedly been recognized for his advocacy, having been named a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal, and among the “Top Litigators in Los Angeles” and “Minority Leader of Influence,” and one of the “Most Influential Minority Lawyers in Los Angeles” by the Los Angeles Business Journal. He is also a two time recipient of the California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) award, and has received numerous other recognitions including awards from the Federal Bar Association, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, and the Daily Journal.
Mr. Estrada has been deeply committed to pro bono work over his career. Among other notable cases, he was the lead attorney for the Bruce family in the Bruce’s Beach litigation, which allowed the County of Los Angeles to return beach-side land to the descendants of a Black family who had the land taken away from them based on racial animus in the 1920s; he led the trial team in Martinez v. New Mexico, a first-of-its-kind education rights victory against the State of New Mexico; and he partnered with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles to start their first virtual domestic-violence restraining order clinic during the pandemic. He has served as a board member for the Federal Bar Association, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, and the Alliance for Children’s Rights, and was a member of the State Bar Judicial Nominations Evaluations Commission (JNE).
Mr. Estrada received his J.D., with distinction, from Stanford Law School in 2002 and his B.A. magna cum laude, from the University of California at Irvine in 1998.
Mr. Estrada grew up in the Orange County, California after his family emigrated to the United States from Guatemala. He is fluent in Spanish.
Veronica Padilla-Campos grew up in Sun Valley, moved to Sylmar for 10 years with her husband and 3-year-old daughter and now lives in Santa Clarita. She is also a proud stepmom to two special needs boys. She has a bachelor’s degree from UCLA in Geography and Environmental Studies and a master’s in urban planning from UCLA as well. She has experience working in the government sector, interning at the housing department for the City of LA, and the private sector, doing GIS work and writing EIR’s, but she has enjoyed serving in the non-profit sector the most. Today, she is the Executive Director of Pacoima Beautiful, and environmental justice organization. She is proud to serve the community in which she grew up while leading projects of the group's founding mothers, who set the grassroots foundation that the historically women-led organization has stood by for the past 22 years.
She served as a City of Los Angeles Planning Commissioner for five years leading such projects as, Mobility Element, West Adams, Baldwin Hills, Leimert Community Plan Update, Citywide Sign Ordinance, Update to the SF Zones, including the new R1 Variation Zones, Parks Fees Update, Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones, LA Football Club Stadium in Exposition Park, LGBT McCadden Homeless Project in Hollywood, Frank Gehry 8150 Sunset Project in Hollywood, Paramount Pictures Master Plan in Hollywood, Martin Expo Town Center Project in West Los Angeles, Providence Holy Cross Hospital Campus Expansion in Tarzana, NoHo West Mixed-Use Project, Crossroads Hollywood, Trident Modernization – West Los Angeles, Promenade 2035 in Warner Center, ICON Sherman Oaks at the Sunkist Building, Downtown Flower Market Development, Arts District Center Project, and Rose Hills Court 100 Percent Affordable Housing Project in East Los Angeles.
She also has the honor of sitting on the Measure W - Watershed Council for the Upper LA River and the Measure A Oversight Committee.
Her overall goal is to build People Power and improve the welfare of her community members by creating equitable, healthy, and safe neighborhoods.
Bz Zhang is a Project Manager for the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT), where they work with communities toward environmental justice through coordination of community engagement, design, and construction of public green spaces. Bz draws from their background as both a community organizer and a licensed architect in California. They hold degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and Brown University. In their free time, they look for birds and trash in the Los Angeles River.
David is a public health professional offering extensive and successful experience in planning, developing, and implementing community-based initiatives throughout Greater Los Angeles County. He’s a dedicated public servant and advocate with project management and coalition-building experience. He has successfully worked with youth, schools, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and cities to advance environmental justice, equity, and public health.
As the Executive Director of ActiveSGV, David is responsible for overall organization management, development, staff supervision, and execution of various environmental justice and public health initiatives. David also serves on the Measure W Scoring Committee and the Measure W Watershed Area Steering Committee for the Upper San Gabriel River. David also formerly served on the El Monte Union High School District Board of Trustees, the Measure A Oversight Committee, the Metro San Gabriel Valley Service Council, and the Metro Sustainability Council.
David lives in El Monte with his wife, Anais, and baby boys Maceo and Dael.
Ivory Rose Parnell-Chambeshi currently serves in the Office of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass as Director of Neighborhood Initiatives for the Watts Rising Collaborative, a resident-guided, multimillion dollar cross-sectoral community development and climate resilience initiative, which is co-led by the Housing Authority of L.A. (HACLA). In her capacity, she oversees strategic implementation, project management, and policy for Watts Rising’s CA SGC Transformative Climate Communities and HUD Choice Neighborhood Implementation grants, and also facilitates city department coordination as Mayoral liaison to HACLA’s Jordan Downs public housing community redevelopment, a billion-plus dollar, 70-acre housing, commercial and open space initiative. Prior to this role, she founded the social impact consultancy, Urban Rising Group where she applied her extensive management, planning and capacity-building expertise to support high-impact organizations. Ivory earned her Bachelor’s degree at UC Riverside, Master’s degrees in urban planning and public administration at USC, and a Certificate in Sustainability from UCLA Extension. She leverages thought leadership and her passion for culturally-rooted, social justice-focused community economic development by serving as an adjunct instructor in public policy and nonprofit management, and as an advisor for state-wide and local climate action initiatives. She is most proud to be a South Central L.A. native and ‘mommy’ to two bonus adult children and two spunky daughters that she and her favorite husband steward to ‘run the world’ as Beyoncé invoked.
Yassi has been an advocate for economic and environmental justice for 10 years. She believes in building trust, community organizing, and creating public policy with public interest in mind across several regulatory agencies and governments. At the Sierra Club, she has organized and led campaigns for green jobs and clean air 100% clean energy for the state, 100% clean trucks, and 100% zero emission clean ports, that center good paying jobs for generations to come. As a resident of the Inland Empire, home to some of the worst air pollution in the country, she has first hand experience on the need to create a new standard of living for communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
Wayne Nastri was unanimously appointed by the South Coast AQMD Governing Board as Executive Officer in December 2016, after serving as Acting Executive Officer since April 2016. In addition to serving as Executive Officer of the South Coast AQMD, Wayne is also on the Board of Directors for the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association, the National Association of Air Quality Agencies (where he Co-Chairs the Criteria Pollutants Committee), and the Environmental Professionals Network. Previously in his career, he served from Oct. 2001 through Jan. 2009 as U.S. EPA's Regional Administrator for Region 9 – Southwest Region, which has jurisdiction over California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. In that position, he was responsible for policy development and operations, exercising management oversight for nearly 1,000 employees and an annual budget exceeding $700 million. He worked closely with the public, industry, and all levels of government in a wide variety of voluntary pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts, including development of diesel emission reduction efforts through development and implementation of the West Coast Diesel Collaborative, in which South Coast AQMD actively participates. Mr. Nastri testified on behalf of the Administration before the Senate for passage of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act. He also worked with members of Congress on the Congressional ratification on the IMO Annex VI which allowed for the designation of an Emission Control area off of the coast of the United States. This paved the way for use of cleaner fuels for ocean going vessels and improved public health. Mr. Nastri also focused Region 9 efforts on development of strategies to address emissions associated with ocean-going vessels and marine ports.
Before his federal position, he served as the Governor's Appointee on the South Coast AQMD Governing Board from Aug. 1997 to Aug. 1998.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Nastri served on Cal/EPA’s Site Mitigation External Advisory Committee for the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), the Zero-Emission Vehicle Implementation Advisory Committee for the California Air Resources Board, and the Site Manager's Advisory Committee for the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). He also served as the Legislative Director for the California Environmental Business Council.
In his earlier private sector experience, Mr. Nastri served as co-president of E4 Strategic Solutions, Inc., a government relations consulting firm focused on negotiating mutually effective solutions for complex environmental & energy issues faced by regulatory authorities, elected officials, and executive management at local, state and federal levels. Earlier employments also include: Senior Vice President and Co-Chair of the Energy & Environment Practice of Capitol Management; Sr. Vice-President of Dutko Worldwide; President of Environmental Mediation, Inc., and Vice President, Environmental Affairs of the Jefferson Group in Washington D.C.
Mr. Nastri holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine.
Jill Johnston, PhD is an Associate Professor and Director of Environmental Justice Research Lab in the Division of Environmental Health at University of Southern California. Dr. Johnston conducts community-driven epidemiology and exposure assessment to address inequitable exposures to harmful contaminants that affect health disparities, including in Latine, Black and Asian Pacific Islander communities and among the working poor. She has two decades of experience inside and outside of academia in community organizing, popular education pedagogy, nurturing diverse partnership and translating environmental health research in community settings. She has led innovative efforts in risk communications through infographics and developed a novel training program to increase capacity of community health workers (promotoras) to engage in environmental health research translation. Dr. Johnston lead multiple urban and rural studies in Southern California to examine energy infrastructure and impacts on health and equity. Dr. Johnston received her PhD in environmental sciences and engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied hazardous waste sites and industrial animal production.
Matt Lakin is the Air Director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9, which covers Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, the Pacific territories and 148 tribal nations.
Matt has been with EPA for 22 years and has held several management positions, leading a wide range of technical, planning, and policy programs in Region 9’s Air and Radiation Division. Matt started his career as an air quality risk assessor in EPA Region 5 (Chicago office) and Region 9, later managing the Air Quality Analysis and Air Planning offices in Region 9’s air program. Matt served as the Deputy Air Director in Region 9 for eight years, before taking on the role of Air Director in 2023. Matt earned his Ph.D. in atmospheric chemistry from the University of California, Irvine.
Veronica Eady is Vice President for Equity & Justice at the Resources Legacy Fund. Prior to joining RLF, Veronica held senior leadership positions at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the California Air Resources Board. She also led the development of the environmental justice policy and other innovative programs for Massachusetts’ statewide environmental agencies. Veronica is a graduate of the University of Southern California and Hastings Law School (now UC Law San Francisco). She’s served on several faculties, including Stanford Law School, UC Davis Law School, and UC Berkeley Law. She currently serves on the boards of Ceres, the Rose Foundation, and UC Berkeley’s Center on Law, Energy, and Environment (CLEE).