San Francisco, CA - Pandora Thomas is Director of the Green Career Program at Global Exchange. This program creates pathways for communities of color, youth and lower income people to access jobs and healing opportunities within environmental fields. Pandora is completing an M.A. in Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. She received her B.A. in Religious Studies from Youngstown State University and a Teaching Credential from the New College of California. Pandora researched and did the initial writing and editing for a collaborative project called Shades of Green, a Green Construction manual for a YouthBuild program that aims to train youth ages 18-24 in Green Construction skills. She received human rights advocacy training as a visiting scholar at the Center for Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, and has created and delivered curriculum to diverse audiences around the themes of human rights, environmental justice, and environmental education. She would one day love to build a home made out of natural materials that do not harm the earth or its creatures, have a garden, and live simply and share this way of being with others.

Awards

Recipient of the Fellows Fund micro-grant award for: The Green Life at San Quentin LEAP – El Cerrito, CA The Green Life is a direct response to the need for environmental literacy, green job training, education, support and empowerment for men reentering their communities after incarceration. The project will finalize an environmental literacy curriculum specifically designed for the population as well as host the first San Quentin Green Festival.