Van Jones, a prominent environmental advocate and civil rights activist, will speak at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Thursday, October 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Mahar Auditorium.
His talk will focus on his new book, Rebuild the Dream, and will be followed by a book signing. This event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited, so tickets are required. For ticket information, click here.
In 2009 President Barack Obama appointed Jones as the green jobs advisor to the White House. While there, Jones helped to oversee $80 billion in green energy recovery spending. He had also been instrumental in the passage of the Green Jobs Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007.
Jones is currently the president and co-founder of Rebuild the Dream, a platform for bottom-up, people- powered innovations to help fix the U.S. economy. In Rolling Stone magazine, he was recently named one of 12 Leaders Who Get Things Done.
Jones’ visit to UMass was initiated by Dr. Andrea Kandel, a UMass alumna who now directs the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), a nonprofit that fights bias, bigotry and racism in the U.S. According to Kandel, “NCCJ has long wanted to bring Van Jones to this area. His ability to energize young people around issues of social justice is incredible.”
Ezra Small, director of the UMass Campus Sustainability Initiative and another organizer of the event, notes that Van Jones “is a globally recognized pioneer when it comes to a clean energy economy. I’m excited that the Five College community has the chance to hear him speak.”
Other co-sponsors of the talk are Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Five Colleges, Inc., and at UMass, the Department of Economics, the Department of Political Science, the Labor Center, the Political Economy Research Institute, Social Thought and Political Economy, Workplace Learning and Development, and the Center for Public Policy and Administration.