Valeria Vega Yanez

Leading three environmental justice programs within El Concilio:as part of a continuation to my fellowship:

• Climate Ready Ambassadors Program: Currently, I am redeveloping the curriculum in Spanish to focus more on air quality and environmental justice.I will serve as the lead facilitator and organizer for the upcoming cohort in North Fair Oaks. program is funded by the James Cary Smith Community Grant Program from the Bay Area Air Quality District.
• Room-Heat Pump Continuation Study: A project conducted in partnership with CalMTA to understand how a previous portable room-heat pump project is impacting the quality of life and finances of past participants.
• Aclima Statewide Mobile Monitoring Initiative: Promoting continuing educational efforts in North Central San Mateo and North Fair Oaks/Redwood City by developing two air quality-focused workshops.

Helped implement El Concilio's brand image and led bilingual communication efforts, including social media, and monthly newsletters. I have also created educational materials for El Concilio's Climate Ready Ambassadors Program, and I co-facilitated lessons in Spanish in North Fair Oaks. Later, I was the lead facilitator for another cohort in North Central San Mateo.

This fellowship is part of the Haas Center for Public Service's Community Impact Fellowship. During this fellowship, I also participated in Stanford's Health Equity Ambassadors program, researching resource access disparities in South San Francisco.

Have developed and led educational workshops about groundwater rise in English and Spanish for community members of East Palo Alto. Related to my work on groundwater rise and toxic waste remobilization, I have led outreach efforts related to the Ravenswood Business District, a new development being proposed by the city that would be built over sites undergoing remediation. I also created supplemental educational videos on sea-level rise, the history of East Palo Alto, groundwater rise, and contaminated sites in English and Spanish.

I participated as a speaker at the 2024 San Mateo County Climate Summit as part of the breakout session: From the Ground Up: Community Action on Combined Flood and Pollution Risks.

Helped create educational content as part of Nuestra Casa's Bayshore Limpiezas program in both English and Spanish. I also helped create new outreach strategies to engage more community members with our work and created new partnerships with local organizations and businesses.

This internship was completed through the Partnership in Climate Justice in the Bay Area program through the Haas Center at Stanford.

Helped create educational content as part of Nuestra Casa's Environmental Justice Academy in both English and Spanish. I also created bilingual social media outreach content, including an informational video. I led research efforts into toxic sites in the area which has now developed into a fully fledged project advocating for the replacement of controversial development with green space.

This internship was completed through the Partnership in Climate Justice in the Bay Area program through the Haas Center at Stanford.

Provided support with analyzing data obtained from an ecological survey around San Francisco. I also work on creating outreach material for members of the community. This outreach material will include information about the results of the ecological survey and will be in both English and Spanish.

Work with high achieving high school students from low-income background to help them navigate applying to college. There is a primary focus on helping with college essays and financial aid applications.