Elizabeth Yeampierre

Elizabeth Yeampierre is an internationally recognized Puerto Rican attorney and environmental and climate justice leader. She is currently Executive Director of UPROSE, Brooklyn's oldest Latino community-based organization, and the co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance. Born and raised in New York City, and of African and Indigenous ancestry, Yeampierre is a long-time advocate and trailblazer for community organizing around sustainable development, environmental and racial justice, and community-led climate adaptation and resilience.

Prior to assuming the Executive Director position at UPROSE, she was the Director of Legal Education and Training at the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, Director of Legal Services for the American Indian Law Alliance, and Dean of Puerto Rican Student Affairs at Yale University. Yeampierre was the first Latina Chair of the EPA National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, and also served as member of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences Advisory Council. In 2010, Elizabeth was the opening speaker at the Obama Administration’s first White House Forum on Environmental Justice, and in 2015, she spoke at Pope Francis’s Climate Change Rally at the National Mall in Washington DC. Her work has been featured in books and media outlets throughout the United States, Latin America and Europe. Yeampierre holds a BA from Fordham University and a JD from Northeastern University.