Jalonne White-Newsome is an environmental justice advocate and academic who was named the top environmental adviser to the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Thursday.
White-Newsome replaces Cecilia Martinez who was CEQ’s first senior director for environmental justice. Martinez had been with CEQ for a year. On Thursday, the White House council promoted Corey Solow to CEQ director of environmental justice.
Martinezs earlier-than-expected departure sparked concerns from environmental equity groups over President Joe Bidens commitment to the issue.
White-Newsome will coordinate the council’s efforts to promote environmental equity, including Bidens Justice40 which seeks to ensure that marginalized communities receive 40% from the benefits of clean energy and climate.
White-Newsome is the most recent leader of Empowering a Green Environment and Economy LLC. (EGE2) is a consulting firm that focuses on empowering community voices to find solutions for climate change, improving public healthcare, and advancing racial and environmental equity.
White-Newsome is originally from Detroit and has held a variety of academic, philanthropic and environmental justice advocacy positions. She also served as a lecturer at George Washington University in occupational and environmental health.
White-Newsome said that she will work to institutionalize policies that will not only improve lives but also save lives.
Championing Equity
She pledged to work with federal agencies to increase the number and quality of environmental justice champions, as well as continue to listen to and collaborate with community leaders in environmental justice.
White-Newsome worked as a senior program officer for the Kresge Foundation and established the foundations Climate Resilience and Equitable Water Systems. This coordinated work by more than 30 organizations on tackling water inequity and climate change.
She was also the first federally appointed policy director for WE ACT for Environmental Justice (New York), a community-based environmental justice advocacy group. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Northwestern University, a master’s in environmental engineering at Southern Methodist University, as well as a Ph.D. (environmental health sciences) from the University of Michigan.
Brenda Mallory, CEQ Chair announced White-Newsome’s hiring. White-Newsome was a strong and powerful champion for communities that have been hampered by pollution and suffered decades of environmental injustice.