Omari Washington comes from MillionTreesNYC
Omari Washington has joined Clearwater as coordinator of the Green Cities initiative, which works with several river cities to bring environmental education, watershed awareness, and stewardship training to under-served communities and young people.
Omari Washington
Washington served as an education committee co-chair for MillionTreesNYC, the signature program of former Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030. He also worked with CityScience and the New York Restoration Project, where he created, implemented and evaluated innovative environmental education programs in community gardens, parks and schoolyards, and managed a team of educators.
“As a committed urbanist, environmentalist and educator, I could not be more thrilled to be taking on this position,” said Washington, who is currently pursuing a master’s degree in urban environmental systems management from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
“We are delighted to have a professional with such a strong background in sustainability initiatives to coordinate our Green Cities program,” said Peter Gross, Clearwater executive director. Manna Jo Greene, Clearwater’s environmental director, added that “Omari is the ideal person to grow this initiative, which was very much part of Clearwater founder Pete Seeger’s vision for the organization’s future.”
Washington will work with organizations such as Nubian Directions in Poughkeepsie, the Newburgh Armory Unity Center and the Peekskill Youth Bureau, and with instructors and contractors, to provide training in green stormwater management and green building. Trainees acquire knowledge and marketable skills through hands-on work, such as building rain gardens and bioswales to beautify neighborhoods and divert stormwater from overburdened sewer systems.
Photo courtesy of Clearwater
