Jeanne Stuart—2012 Fellow
Year: Class of 2014
Encouraging Green Leadership Among Latino Entrepreneurs
In building LEDC’s Green Business Initiative, I support Latino-owned businesses to cut costs and promote social welfare by improving resource efficiency, reducing waste, and educating customers. In collaboration with local businesses, non-profit and governmental organizations, we help Latino business owners become leaders in the creation of a local green economy. My work with LEDC includes creating a body of informational outreach and marketing materials about the Green Business Initiative, developing partnerships with other sustainability and community development-focused organizations in the Twin Cities, leading a team of canvassing volunteers, and connecting businesses with energy and lighting audits.
My academic passion is Latin American politics and social change. I am also deeply invested in immigration and the labor movement here in the United States, and the incorporation of migrant and minority communities into unions and the urban working class. In the future, I see myself working as a policy adviser or non-profit administrator to promote greater economic development and incorporation of minority communities. I love eating good food and spending time outdoors, preferably canoeing in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota.
To all of the donors who make this program possible, thank you for this gift. Not only the gift of your monetary support, but the sign of faith that such support signifies- that a group of self-directed and passionate students can help each other to become leaders in their community and make a tangible difference. The Chuck Green Fellowship is a unique experiment in determining the capacity of young people to take agency in their own education and in the challenging world around them. Those high expectations have challenged me to push my boundaries, and I’ve grown a lot because of it. Seeing the work I’ve accomplished and the feats of my peers gives me renewed faith in my potential and in the possibility for radical transformation in our community.