Meredith Taylor

Working Groups: EEC (Chairwoman), Land

Meredith Taylor is a Research Associate in the Office of Agriculture and Urban Programs. She received an MA in Food Studies and Nutrition from New York University and her MPH from NY Medical College School of Public Health. Meredith’s interest in food, health, and agriculture have led her to pursue academic and professional opportunities that embrace local and regional strategies for building healthy sustainable food systems. Prior to joining the faculty at Rutgers, she developed the initial phase of a hydroponic farming project in Newark and directed food and environment programs for Isles, Inc. in Trenton.

Meredith is a Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardener, a founding board member for the New Jersey Farm to School Network and an avid beekeeper. Meredith joined EJAC in July 2018.

Dr. Amy Tuininga

Working Groups: Land (Vice-Chairwoman), Air, EEC

Amy Tuininga, PhD, is the Director of Montclair State University’s PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies (PSEG ISS). She grows partnerships among faculty, students, administrators, government agencies, private corporations, and community groups to solve sustainability problems. Projects involve aspects of the environment, energy, water, food, natural resources, and economies that collectively function to build sustainable communities. She is developing the PSEG ISS as a source for innovation in sustainability and environmental management, a model of academic-corporate-community partnerships that advance sustainability science and build resilient communities that utilize informed, data-driven decision making. Dr. Tuininga joined EJAC in July 2018.

Yvette Viasus

Working groups : EEC, Land

Yvette Viasus works as the Community Solar Engagement Manager at Solar Landscape. In her current position, she works every day to make opportunities for cleaner environments a reality for EJ communities, developing meaningful partnerships with non-profits and municipalities, and providing public testimony to make clean energy accessible to all via improvements to the Clean Energy Equity Act. Through partnerships, events, and presentations she has empowered and educated thousands of New Jersey residents -- many of them in low- to moderate-income households -- to join New Jersey's Community Solar Program.

As a first generation American, someone underrepresented in STEM and leadership roles, who grew up in an overburdened community and low-income household, she is committed to working in sustainability and driving policy efforts to equitably shape communities and businesses. Ms. Viasus graduated from Montclair State University with degrees in Sustainability Science and Urban Studies and is also accredited as a LEED Green Associate.

Jeffrey Perlman

Workgroups: Air, Land

Jeffery Perlman currently serves as the Senior Director of Planning at the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. He is responsible for overseeing and integrating metropolitan transportation planning initiatives for the North Jersey region. Previously, Jeffrey has worked as a planning consultant for a number of New Jersey municipalities, where he conducted a variety of planning studies including master plans, redevelopment studies, and affordable housing plans. Jeffrey holds a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning from Rutgers University, and a Master’s Degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Jeffrey is a licensed planner in the State of New Jersey and certified with the American Institute of Certified Planners at the American Planning Association.

Phyllis Reich

Working Group: Air

Phyllis Reich has been employed by the City of Elizabeth in Planning and Community Development, Economic Development as a Project Coordinator, Redevelopment since 2003. Prior to government, she was employed in the corporate sector. Her other responsibilities include liaison for Sustainable Jersey, Brownfield liaison, appointed by the Mayor to establish an Economic Development Arts Council, recommended by the Mayor of the City of Elizabeth to represent the City on the Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Phyllis is a member of the board of directors for: Groundwork Elizabeth, Elizabeth Rotary Club, Jewish Family Service, and the YWCA. Phyllis has served on the Council since July 2018.

Dr. Nancy Griffeth

Working groups: Air, EEC

Dr. Nancy Griffeth is a retired computer scientist. After 48 years of programming, teaching, and research, she is applying her technical and mathematical skills to improving the environment and working for environmental justice.

She is currently co-chair of the Natural Resources Committee of the League of Women Voters. From fall 2017 to fall 2019, she was chair of the Environmental Justice Task Force of Unitarian Universalist FaithAction NJ and she continues as an active member of this group. Her primary focus has been on reducing toxic emissions and greenhouse gases in low-income communities, on equity in access to renewable energy, and on the health impacts of climate change. Over the last three years, she has represented UU FaithAction and the League of Women Voters in testifying and commenting on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Community Solar Pilot Program, the state's Energy Master Plan, and the DEP's rule-making associated with the Governor's initiative "Protecting against Climate Threats. She also testified against the gas-fired plant proposed as a resiliency measure by PVSC.

As a member of EJAC, she plans to continue working to reduce greenhouse gas and co-pollutants in overburdened communities; to help the effort to require cumulative impacts evaluation and mandatory emissions reductions; the associated health issues; and the economic injustices of some remedial efforts.

She also completed the coursework for the Rutgers Environmental Stewards course in 2018 and is an enthusiastic but inexperienced home gardener.

Jackie Park Albaum

Working Group: Land (Chairwoman)

In her role as Director of Urban Agriculture, Jackie oversees the day-to-day operations of the Come Grow With Us! Urban Agriculture Initiative including the Groundwork Elizabeth MicroFarm, Elizabeth’s two community plot gardens, the community Partner Gardens, eight Agricultural Laboratories, the Farm & Garden Adventures education programs, the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders Union County Means Green and Kids Dig In! Community and School Gardening grant programs (under the direction of Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados.) and the More P.E.A.S. initiative. Jackie has an extensive background in communications, design, resource development, non-profit management, urban agriculture and sustainability. Jackie serves as co-lead on the Climate Safe Neighborhood Partnership.

Mike Morgan

Working groups: Air, EEC

Mike Morgan is an advocate for environmental and public health in the overburdened neighborhood of Waterfront South in Camden where he lives with his family. As a longtime resident, he sees the ways local industrial pollution impacts the neighborhood's health and well-being. He is currently a master's student of public affairs/ community development at Rutgers-Camden with the goal of applying his degree toward creating systemic change in Waterfront South. As a member of Camden Collaborative Initiative, he advocates for environmental concerns in the City. Through his community engagement role at the Rutgers School of Nursing-Camden, he is collaborating with cross sector partners to research the intersection of environmental justice and social determinants of health in Camden City. By researching this connection between environmental and public health, he strives to address public policy to reduce the environmental stressors that impact the City.

Katharina Miguel

Working groups: Air, EEC, Water, Land

As a Clean Energy Advocate, Katharina manages the clean energy initiatives of Isles through policy, project management, and community organizing. This includes promoting community and rooftop solar, energy efficiency, accessible clean transportation, and workforce development for New Jersey residents. Prior to joining Isles, Ms. Miguel served as Project Coordinator of the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed, a coalition comprised of 140 member organizations dedicated to advancing clean water protection in the region. She received her B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Psychology from Rutgers University. In her free time, Katharina enjoys Latin and Hip-Hop dancing, scuba diving, and traveling.

Dr. Denalerie Johnson-Faniel

Working groups: Air, EEC, Water, Land

Dr. Denalerie Johnson-Faniel, HS-BCP served as the Division on Civil Rights, Office of the Attorney General Law and Public Safety Department’s inaugural chief of the outreach, community relations and crisis response unit. The Lean 6 Sigma Greenbelt certified CEO of 3D Management Consulting, LLC., is also the director of equity and inclusion within the strategic integration and health equity office at University Hospital, New Jersey’s only acute trauma state hospital. Dr. Johnson-Faniel has a clinical background is a registered yoga instructor, reiki master, life coach, behavioral analyst, author and adjunct professor. Her courses include African American history, contemporary social problems, multiculturalism and diversity, race and ethnicity, sociology, the psychology of women, cultural awareness for health and human services, and strategic planning and organizational development in healthcare.

She is a MPH candidate at The College of New Jersey, focused on international health communications and Dr. Johnson-Faniel is an alumna of Columbia, Howard and Capella Universities with over twenty years of HR/DEI/L&D and counseling experience. As a New Jersey Feeding America food bank director, she transformed it into a health equity modeled nutritional health and wellness impact center. She served as national mentoring consultant for Center for Supportive Schools, was executive vp, workforce development at Dress for Success Worldwide, director of organizational development and change management at the Jewish Home Hospital, operations director at the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and president of a National Urban League affiliate.

The board-certified human services professional held elected and appointed government roles; sat on a central New Jersey NAACP board of directors and was an advisory member of Anti-Poverty Network NJ. Dr. Johnson-Faniel lives in Trenton, contributes on a variety of justice related taskforces, is a mental health section lead for the American Public Health Association, member of the Sierra Club of New Jersey, the National Educators Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc., holds the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., international co-director social action role and chairs the organization’s New Jersey advocacy and partnerships teams.

Dr. Robert Laumbach

Working groups: Air, Water

Robert Laumbach MD, MPH, CIH is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health. Rob has a major research focus in cumulative impacts of multiple chemical and nonchemical stressors on health, particularly on mechanisms by which air pollution interacts with other stressors in Environmental Justice communities in New Jersey. He is currently collaborating with the Ironbound Community Corporation on an EPA-funded project to measure the effects of diesel exhaust air pollution and chronic stress on asthma exacerbation among children living in communities adjacent to the Port of Newark/Elizabeth. He directs community outreach and engagement for the NIEHS Center for Environmental Exposure and Disease (CEED), at the Environmental and Exposure and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), and maintains a clinical practice at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. A former Sanitarian, Industrial Hygienist, and member of the NJ Department of Environmental Protection Science Advisory Board, Rob strives to apply the best available scientific evidence and approaches to solving real-world environmental health problems in New Jersey.

Tyrese Gould Jacinto

Working groups : EEC, Land

Tyrese A. Gould Jacinto (pronounced "Ty-Ese" "Ha-Cinto"), of Bridgeton, New Jersey, is a member of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Nation. She is a businesswoman with more than thirty years of experience in business management, non-profit, and program creation. She is a Notary Public, Realtor, Author, Artist, and Carpenter and owns the Purépecha Unalachtigo Tourist Ranch in Bridgeton, NJ. Tyrese serves as President and CEO of Native American Advancement Corp. (NAAC), a non-profit organization created by her to address the efficient transformation of New Jersey's energy savings system through Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) technologies. Tyrese also serves as an appointed member of the Department of Community Affairs' WAP Policy Advisory Committee. NAAC manages several other programs in health and safety, climate, and energy programs, such as lead remediation, Climate Corps, AmeriCorps, and financial literacy programs. Tyrese created NAAC with a mission to promote the public awareness and participation of all residents in the energy efficiency methods, thereby protecting our region's natural resources, of air, land, and water, through its programs.

Andrew Kricun

Working Groups: Water (Chairman), Air

Andrew "Andy" Kricun has 35 years of wastewater management experience. He served as the Executive Director of the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority. He graduated from Princeton with a degree in chemical engineering. He serves as the chair of the national association of clean water agency’s environmental justice committee and he has served on the NJ Environmental Justice Advisory Council since 2016.

Melissa Miles

Working Group: Air (Vice-Chairwoman)

Melissa Miles is the Executive Director of the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance. She has her M.A. in Anthropology from the New School for Social Research and has spent considerable time in Brazil which inspired her to make her home in the largely Portuguese speaking Ironbound neighborhood of Newark. After her then one-year old son was diagnosed with asthma in 2013, she discovered that air pollution was linked to many cases of childhood asthma in the city. Following this toxic trail she learned of the legacy of environmental injustice in the Ironbound which ultimately led her into activism. That activism was a precursor to her becoming a community-based organizer with the ICC. Her focus is on mitigating air pollution related to the transportation, energy and waste infrastructure concentrated in the City of Newark. In addition to engaging Ironbound residents in creating a more just community from the ground up, she works on issues related to Climate Justice, Energy Democracy and Just Transition in collaboration with local, national and international partner organizations. Melissa sits on the Environmental Justice Council to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection as the Vice-Chair of the Air Committee. She is also part of the steering committee of the Coalition for Healthy Ports and is a Regional Representative for the Moving Forward Network. Melissa has served on the council since 2018.

William Casey

Working group : Land

William “Bill” Casey has 30 years of experience advocating for Training and Employment Opportunities in serving low-income communities and returning citizens (Reentry). He serves as First Vice President of NAACP – Metuchen, Edison, Piscataway Branch, State Board NAACP Criminal Justice Reform, and Executive Environmental Justice Committee Member.

Over the years of advocating, for equality, the focus became employment opportunities for underserved communities, through vocational skills trainings and community partnerships, which lead to consulting and collaborations with Lincoln Technical Institute, Industry Training Partnership Department, to establish vocational training programs with Federal Bureau of Prisons, in FT. Dix FCI NJ., and Danbury FCI CT., also addressing Reentry and Employment opportunities for returning citizens.

The environmental issues of today have become a top priority for me, and the communities’ which are deemed to be underserved, which has led to consulting with clean energy advocates in NJ., on what workforce development training programs can be for low/underserved communities, and how it would benefit the residents, by having entry level trainings, that leads to apprenticeships, and long-term career opportunities.