We’ve been through a global pandemic. Soaring prices for housing and food make it increasingly difficult to secure our basic needs. Wildfire smoke and damaging storms are commonplace. Our entrenched political divides are laced with conflict and create a sense of insecurity. How do we make sense of these realities?

This workshop provides an opportunity to connect, explore a shared vision of Just Transition, and consider the question: What will it take to build systems centered on care for each other and our shared home? What would it mean for many of us in the Mahicantuck (Hudson) Valley to be focused on social and ecological well-being? Join us to deepen your understanding of the Just Transition framework, principles and practices. Through video, reflection, story sharing, and small group discussion, you will:

Gain an understanding of the Just Transition principles and practices, and where they come from
See people from across the country describing aspects of Just Transition
Connect your own experience to extractive and regenerative economic paradigms
Discuss ways to weave one or more Just Transition principles and practices into your work and life

WORKSHOP FACILITATORS:
Hélène Lesterlin, Worker Trustee/Community Fund Steward, Good Work InstituteHélène (she/her) focuses on social impact work, helping entrepreneurs, artists, and activists find pathways to manifest their ideas. She seeks and creates good stories and effective strategies to build a regenerative economy. She lives with her family in West Saugerties NY.

Micah, Worker Trustee, Good Work InstituteMicah (he/him) is of mixed race (black and white) and mixed religion, and grew up in two different socio-economic homes. He is a cisgendered, working/middle class parent of two living on Munsee/Lenape land in the Mahicantuck Valley, commonly referred today as Kingston, NY, working to prove possibility and to liberate the imagination in order to see a Just Transition.

Aja Schmeltz, Worker Trustee/Community Engagement & Communications Steward, Good Work Institute

Aja is an Afro-Latina, cisgendered, middle class woman raising 3 daughters with her partner of 20+ years, growing food and medicine, creating art, loving hard and strengthening connections in her beloved communities throughout the Mahicantuck (Hudson) River Valley. The Just Transition is central to her work, both personally and professionally, because she strongly believes that a successful community is made up of individuals working collaboratively on all fronts to create avenues to build a healthier, thriving, more sustainable environment.

Just Transition Primer