Staff

Meredith Herr

Title: Project Coordinator, Social Capital Project

Office: Headquarters

Department:

Meredith Herr comes to Earthjustice from the Research Center for Leadership in Action where she implemented practice-grounded initiatives with Leadership for a Changing World award recipients. Through use of cooperative inquiry research methods, Meredith co-facilitated an investigation into the relationship between personal and societal transformation with grassroots social change leaders. She has written both academic and practitioner-oriented reports, analyzing the work of community-based nonprofits, specifically focusing on asset-based leadership and intergenerational partnerships. Meredith is thrilled be able to connect her research skills with her passion for environmental protection through Earthjustice's innovative Social Capital Project.

During her undergraduate studies at Vassar College, Meredith made a commitment to progressive political action and became active in the peace movement. Through her Urban Studies major and subsequent work with the Shaw EcoVillage Project, she examined the sociological impacts of our built environment, specifically the environmental and socioeconomic effects of Transit-Oriented Development. During a summer internship with the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Meredith was afforded an inside look at the policymaking process and was influenced to pursue further study in public policy analysis at the NYU Wagner School of Public Service.

While residing in Greenpoint Brooklyn, Meredith gained firsthand perspective on the neighborhood's environmental health hazards with its contaminated groundwater, brownfields, and disproportionate number of waste treatment facilities. For her Master's thesis, Meredith investigated environmental health issues across New York City by conducting a statistical and geographical analysis of childhood asthma prevalence.

As a recent Brooklyn to Berkeley transplant, Meredith delights in every chance she has to hike, camp, and explore new places on the West Coast with her partner Paul and their dog Bean.

Created: August 30, 2007