As issues of climate change and environmental justice disproportionately affect communities of color, Kaiping Chen, an assistant professor in University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Department of Life Sciences Communications (LSC) and her team aim to empower and amplify Black and Latinx voices in sustainability policy making.

Chen and her team hosted two community discussions in October 2022 – one with Wisconsin EcoLatinos and the other with Urban Triage – at the South Madison Partnership as the first component of a larger research project.

“I want to empower people to have thoughtful deliberation but also to amplify their voices in local policymaking,” Chen said. “This is something I want to always do beyond my research work: Bridge the gap between academics, policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and communities to address street level problems to enhance people’s everyday life. This is something I’ve also been learning a lot from my colleagues at LSC.”