YEO Policy Academies Clean Energy & Environmental Justice Pol. Academy | Page 19

Detailed Agenda
SATURDAY « FEBRUARY 20, 2016

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
RESILIENT CITIES AND TOWNS
MITIGATING AND MANAGING THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Cities face a growing number of natural and structural challenges in the 21st
century, many directly connected to climate change. This panel will discuss the
threats—from rising sea levels on our coasts to droughts in America’s breadbasket
to failing food systems and infrastructure in our urban centers—and the ways
cities can become more resourceful, flexible, and equitable in both planning and
response.
BREAKOUTS BY NATURAL VERSUS STRUCTURAL THREATS

Tom Dallessio
Next City

Justin Garoutte
Conejos Clean Water
Justin Garoutte is an Antonito native who recently returned home to
give back to his community. At an early age, he was fascinated with
traveling. He was one of 16 Americans chosen to be a citizen ambassador
for the U.S. Department of State LINC Program in Tunisia in 2005.
After this, he went on to study abroad again, this time for a full-year in
Germany on the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) program.
After graduating from Colorado College and spending three years
working in Europe, Justin founded Valleybound, the Antonito School
CREDIT: JOE MAHONEY
and Community Garden, which serves as an empowering educational
space for youth and adults alike. Educating and empowering community remains his main focus.
All of this culminates in his work as the executive director of Conejos Clean Water, a communitybased nonprofit focusing on environmental, social, and food justice issues in the Conejos area of
southern Colorado.

Clean Energy & Environmental Justice Policy Academy | 2016

Thomas G. Dallessio, AICP, PP, FRSA, is president, CEO and publisher of
Next City, Inc., a nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire social,
economic, and environmental change in cities through journalism and
events. Next City’s online posts are read widely around the world, and the
annual Vanguard conference for urban leaders under 40 is the premier
program to advance urban interests. Dallessio is a licensed professional
planner with over three decades of urban planning and public policy
experience on the local, regional, state, national, and international
levels. He teaches Land Use Planning and Infrastructure Planning at the
New Jersey Institute of Technology and founded the Center for Resilient Design. Dallessio is a
member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a fellow of the Royal Society for the
Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Dallessio was elected for three terms to the
Hopewell Borough, New Jersey Council, serving two years as council president.

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