Staff

 

Kendyl Crawley Crawford: Baptist

Director
kcrawford@vaipl.org
(804) 505-4624

Kendyl Crawley Crawford is excited to be at the forefront of congregational organizing efforts taking place in Virginia around the issue of climate change, which has far-reaching justice and moral implications, as the Director of Virginia Interfaith Power & Light.

As the former Richmond Conservation Program Coordinator for the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, she worked on community organizing around climate change and toxic pollution. She has spent time closely organizing with faith communities around the state. She received a bachelor’s degree in Marine and Environmental Science from Hampton University in 2012 and has a Master’s of Science in Environment, Science and Society from University College London where she conducted research on social movement organizations mobilizing around air pollution in London on a Marshall Scholarship. In 2015, she successfully completed the Midwest Academy Organizing for Social Change Training. In 2018, she received a Master’s of Nonprofit Studies degree at the University of Richmond and was chosen to be Student Commencement Speaker representing her class.

Kendyl is also a member of the NAACP and has volunteered for several organizations including Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the City of Hampton Clean City Commission. She has received a Creating a Climate for Change Certificate of Recognition, National Hampton Alumni Association Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, a Proclamation from the City of Hampton, VA and also was declared a Young Futurist by theRoot.com. She currently serves on the board of the Virginia Conservation Network.

Leah Jones: Baptist

Faith Community Outreach Coordinator
ljones@vaipl.org

(804) 514-1104

Leah Jones joined VAIPL as Faith Community Outreach Coordinator in 2020. Graduating from William and Mary with a degree in Biology and Environmental Science and Policy in 2019, she is an enthusiastic advocate for environmental and racial activism. During her college career, she developed a passion for intersectional environmental issues, specifically those pertaining to food security and climate justice. After her experience with Environment Virginia as an intern in 2016, she made it a priority to be an environmental educator and activist for her community. In 2020, she worked as a Garden Educator for Greater Richmond’s Fit4Kids program during the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching children in low-income communities about agricultural and nutritional empowerment. Leah believes her purpose is to shed light on existing issues of environmental racism and do anything she can to reclaim green space for Black people and other marginalized communities!

Rev. Dr. Faith Harris: Baptist

Interim Co-Director
fharris@vaipl.org

Rev. Dr. Faith B. Harris is an ordained Baptist minister, community organizer, and activist as well as Assistant Professor for The Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University (STVU). She teaches systematic, eco, and womanist/feminist theologies.

Dr. Harris volunteers for a number of interfaith and grassroots organizations among them, Organizing for Action (OFA), is the Vice-Chair for Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP), and Chair for Virginia Interfaith Power & Light (VAIPL). She is passionate about serving the faith community advocating for environmental justice and sustainability, racial and gender justice all to improve the quality of life for Virginians.  She is a member of the Governor’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council for both Governor Terry McAuliffe’s and Ralph Northam.

As a community activist, she demonstrates her passion and faith through the diverse activities of community organizing, teaching, public speaking, and serving the university, the community, and the church.

She has earned the Doctor of Ministry Degree and the Master of Divinity degree, from Virginia Union University and a Masters of Sacred Theology, with an emphasis in Practical Theology, Christian Social Ethics, and Ecclesiology from Boston University School of Theology.

A member of First Unitarian Universalist Church in Richmond, Virginia where she serves as a Committee on Mission. She has a variety of interests including reading novels, gardening, cooking, canning, and camping.

Geran Lorraine: Christian

Faith Community Outreach Coordinator

glorraine@vaipl.org
(804) 396-4761

Geran Lorraine is the Faith Community Outreach Coordinator for VAIPL. He has been organizing around economic justice, racial justice, fair-wage, and worker’s rights issues since 2008. He is also an ardent advocate for environmental justice having grown up with a continual awareness of harmful environmental policies affecting his community. He is currently finishing his Master of Divinity at Union Presbyterian Seminary. He views organizing an interfaith community that works for Environmental Justice as a chance to protect the sacredness of this earth and as a way to advocate for all Virginians. Geran is actively involved in several local non-profits, most recently helping to establish an affordable preschool in Richmond’s East End. Currently, he resides with the City of Richmond with his spouse and 3 children. He is an avid reader and jazz enthusiast.

Ayesha Noor: Muslim

Communications Engagement Coordinator
anoor@vaipl.org
(804) 908-3404

Ayesha Noor is working as the Communications Engagement Coordinator at VAIPL. She has a masters degree in Economics and has been published at a number of publications including The New York Times, the Washington Post, Richmond Times Dispatch, the Independent among several others. She is serving as the director of Interfaith Relations at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Auxiliary at Masroor Mosque in Manassas. She is heavily involved in interfaith work in Virginia. She lives in Stafford with her husband and 3 children and believes in enjoying the little things.

 

Steering Committee

Kim Bobo: United Methodist

Co-Executive Director VICPP

kim@virginiainterfaithcenter.org

Kim Bobo is a nationally known promoter of social justice who leads Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy’s advocacy, outreach, and development work. She literally wrote the book on faith-based organizing. Kim joined Virginia Interfaith Center in 2016, where she mobilized a historic faith advocacy campaign and played a leadership role in the statewide Healthcare for All Virginians coalition advocating Medicaid expansion, which passed in 2018. She moved to Virginia from Chicago, where she founded and served as executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, the nation’s largest network of people of faith engaging in local and national actions to improve wages, benefits, and conditions for workers.

Prior to that Kim was a national organizing director for Bread for the World and an instructor at the Midwest Academy. Born in Cincinnati, Kim has a B.A. in religion from Barnard College and an M.A. in economics from the New School for Social Research. She was married for 31 years to Stephen Coats, who died unexpectedly in 2013. Their twin sons, Benjamin and Eric, are organizing for economic justice in Illinois and Ohio. Kim married David Duvall Orr, a long-time Chicago reform politician, in 2017. She is a member of Wesley United Methodist Church, where she sings in the choir. Kim served as the choir director at her previous church for more than 25 years.

Richard Cizik: Evangelical Presbyterian, Anglican

Richard Cizik is the President of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, a faith-based organization committed to an agenda that fosters values consistent with an open and free society. Cizik participated in Climate Forum 2002, at Oxford, England, which produced the “Oxford Declaration” on global warming. He was instrumental in creating the Evangelical Climate Initiative, introduced in 2006. The following year, Cizik formed a group of scientists, including nobel laureate Eric Chivian and Harvard Professor Emeritus Edward O. Wilson, along with leading evangelical pastors and professors, to compose a groundbreaking document entitled “Scientists and Evangelical Call to Action.”

Cizik graduated with a B.A., cum laude, Political Science, Whitworth University (1973); Master of Divinity, Denver Seminary (1979); M.A., Public Affairs, The George Washington University School of Public & International Affairs (1985). In 2005, he was awarded the Ecclesiastical degree of Doctor of Divinity, Honoris causae, The Methodist Episcopal Church, USA.  In 2014, Whitworth University awarded him a Doctorate in Humane Letters (D.H.L.) for his pioneering theological work in creation care. Cizik sits on advisory boards of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, and the Evangelical Environmental Network.

Aliya Farooq: Muslim (Co. Chair)

Aliya Farooq has a degree in Business Administration from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. She was born in Washington DC and raised in Maryland. Aliya moved to Chester Virginia in 1997, when her husband began his medical practice in Hopewell. She has enjoyed raising her four children in the Richmond area. She served on the Board of Directors at Iqra Academy of Virginia from 2000 to 2015, in the positions of secretary, vice-chair, chair and consultant.

Since then, Aliya has been an active member of several local interfaith organizations such as Richmond Interfaith Climate Justice League and Salaam Shalom. With Richmond Interfaith Climate Justice, she was able to assist in three educational programs regarding urgent climate change issues, held at the Islamic Center of Virginia. She has also contacted other local Mosques and has encouraged them to implement greener practices. Aliya believes that women are the backbone of all societies and have the power to create change within communities.

Monica Flippen: Baptist

Monica Flippen is a native of Richmond, VA, and is the youngest of four siblings. She is Vice President of KEi Architects, where she has been employed for over 18 years. She’s a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects and Construction Specification Institute.

Monica has a Bachelor’s of Science in Geology and Mathematics, a Master’s degree in Mathematical Sciences and is currently matriculating through the Master of Divinity Program at The Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University (STVU).

Monica is passionate about creation care and is an advocate for education and awareness within faith-based organizations. She currently serves as the student representative for the Green Seminary Environmental Certification Program at STVU.

Monica’s goal is to encourage, equip, and enlighten others to grow in the grace and knowledge of creation care.

 

Kidest Gebre: Christian (Secretary)

Kidest grew up in a small city in Ethiopia and moved to D.C. nine years ago. She is a recent graduate of the University of Richmond majoring in Geography and the Environment with minors in Women Gender and Sexuality Studies and Visual Arts. She was introduced to VAIPL as the Abby Brown Ayers Civic Fellow in the summer of 2018. The Ayers fellowship supports one student a year working at the intersections of environmental justice and education. Growing up in Ethiopia, faith and religion were a part of every aspect of social life. However, faith communities oftentimes failed to address important issues such as climate change. Since VAIPL stresses environmental education and awareness in faith communities, she’s interested in being part of that movement so that she’d be able to do the same work in the future.

 

Mark Hoggard: Roman Catholic

Mark Hoggard is a disciple of Jesus Christ in the Roman Catholic Christian Tradition. He holds an M.Div. in Theology from St. Meinrad School of Theology, and an M.A. in Liturgical Studies from the University of Notre Dame. He has over 30 years of experience in parish ministry, currently as a Pastoral Associate at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Norfolk, Virginia. He is passionate about liturgy, peace and justice issues (especially environmental concerns), and helping parishes and individuals discover their God-given talents and use them to spread the Gospel.

Mark serves on the Board of the National Association for Lay Ministry and is a member of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. He is trained in group facilitation methods by the Institution for Cultural Affairs USA and is a Level I Strengths Coach with Gallup Faith Practices. He volunteers regularly with the Sierra Club.

He is a life-long resident of Virginia, and a member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Hampton, where he serves in the choir, and on the Care for Creation Team. He lives in Hampton, Virginia, with his dog, Jake.

Beth Roach: Longhouse Traditional

Beth Roach grew up immersed in brackish James River waters surrounding rural Surry County. During her childhood, there was a decade long fishing ban due to Kepone, a toxic chemical containment. This experience showed Beth how negligent human choices can devastate local environments.

Fascinated by the intersection of community, environment, and public memory, Beth earned her degree in History from James Madison University. She spent 7 years leading public programs that shared stories of communities and environments statewide for Virginia State Parks. As grants manager for the James River Association, Beth raised over $4 million for the James River, which has resiliently rebounded since her childhood.

An enrolled member and Tribal Councilwoman for the Nottoway Indian Tribe of VA, Beth actively leads environmental and storytelling programs, and she recently served as Vice-Chair for the Governor’s Advisory Council on Environmental Justice. In 2018, Beth co-founded the Alliance of Native Seedkeepers with a Tuscorara and two Monacans.

Beth joined Mothers Out Front in 2018 to expand this national group’s presence into central Virginia. As community organizer, she builds teams of mother advocates who implement climate action campaigns to create a more hopeful future for their children.

Rosie Snow: Christian

Rosie Snow has been working at the intersection of faith and climate justice for over ten years, mobilizing her home church of St. Paul and St. Andrew to take climate leadership, organizing with Fossil Free UMC, and serving on the steering of Virginia Interfaith Power & Light, among other projects. She graduated from Wesley Theological Seminary in 2018 with an M.T.S., writing her thesis on how Christians can draw from biomimicry and theology to partner with the earth for renewal.  Rosie now serves as the Director of Christian Discipleship at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church, and she is excited to be part of God’s work transforming Central Virginia into a model of ecological regeneration and dignity for all.