Leyline Capital is a renewable energy financing company that is partnering with BlackOak to bring more Black students and professionals into the sector. Their Renewable Energy Externship at Leyline (REAAL) program provides college students with hands-on work experience and an entry-point into renewable energy finance work.Mindy Dunn is a 2022 alumna of the REAAL program …
We are excited to announce a few important changes to BlackOak’s Executive Team! At the end of this week, Kiera Givens will officially step down as our Executive Director. Kiera has led BlackOak gracefully since 2020. Throughout the years, she has simultaneously worked a full time job, matriculated through her graduate studies at Duke’s Fuqua …
This week marks the 54th anniversary of the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike. While the protest is most famous for being the site where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final speech and was subsequently assassinated—it is also an often overlooked precursor to the environmental justice movement. In fact, the EPA considers the strike “the …
by Nicole Duimstra Virginia Conservation Network (VCN) is excited to share more about our partnership with the BlackOak Collective (BlackOak). VCN and BlackOak teamed up in late 2020 to help expand the pipeline of Black professionals launching careers within Virginia’s environmental movement by connecting talented Black individuals with VCN’s network of 150 conservation and climate organizations. DISMANTLING …
Ever since I took Yale’s Financing and Deploying Clean Energy Certificate Program, I’ve been asked many questions by professionals, students, and peers. What did you learn? Did you enjoy the experience? Why did you select this program? Given BlackOak Collective’s partnership with the Yale Center of Business and the Environment (CBEY), I thought I’d take …
Reflecting on Our History o much of our history is rife with environmentalism, but is not often labeled as such by white power structures. George Washington Carver, for instance, was not simply ‘the peanut guy’. His emphasis on nitrogen rich crops like sweet potatoes and peanuts was an attempt to introduce sustainable agriculture practices to …