Co-Sponsored by UIS Sustainability Committee

Blacks in Green, a Chicago-based organization, seeks to create self-sustaining and healthy black communities using a whole systems approach that includes fostering green villages. Visionary founder, Naomi Davis, will discuss how she is working on urban systems to build green local economies in black communities. The vision of her organization is to create walkable, vibrant, villages where people work, live, learn, and play. Her approach is a whole-system, combining principles of micro-lending, local renewable energy generation, low-income green housing, and green epicenters to build strong urban communities.

Naomi Davis is a Chicago attorney, entrepreneur, activist, and granddaughters of Mississippi sharecroppers. She is President and Founder of Black in Green. She serves on the boards of the Illinois League of Conservation Voters and Climate Justice Chicago, the steering committees of the Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative, Chicago Green Jobs for All and many others.