WASHINGTON, D.C.  — The National Wildlife Federation, America’s largest conservation organization with 51 state and territorial affiliates and more than six million members, announced today that Mustafa Santiago Ali will join the organization as its Vice President for Environmental Justice, Climate and Community Revitalization.

Ali is a nationally-recognized leader on environmental justice and climate policy. His work has been grounded in the 17 principles of the environmental justice movement. The first principle affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth, ecological unity and the interdependence of all species, and the right to be free from ecological destruction.

Ali recently served as senior vice president of Climate, Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization for the Hip Hop Caucus and as senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Agency where he helped found and lead the Office of Environmental Justice during his 24 years with the Agency and he led the 17 Agency Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Environmental Justice, which took a holistic approach to addressing the impacts and opportunities many communities across our country face on a daily basis. Ali also served as a Brookings Institute Congressional Fellow for former Congressman John Conyers, which provided him with a unique perspective on how to integrate and strengthen the needs of vulnerable communities through our legislative process.

“No one in America has done more to empower communities to address long-standing environmental injustices than Mustafa Santiago Ali,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “As our nation confronts the cascading impacts of climate change, Mustafa has led the effort to ensure that the conservation community pursues intersectional solutions that will simultaneously maximize opportunities to revitalize frontline communities, bolster resilience, improve public health, restore natural resources and wildlife populations, and create well-paying jobs. We are honored to have him join the National Wildlife Federation family and look forward to working together to enact solutions that help every community across our nation.”

“Joining the National Wildlife Federation provides the opportunity for a new 21st century paradigm to be created, where climate, environmental justice and conservation can come together in authentic collaborative partnerships that uplift our most vulnerable communities and ensure protection of our natural resources,” Ali said. “Together we can make this happen today and for future generations.”

Ali will lead the National Wildlife Federation’s environmental justice, climate and community revitalization work across the nation, working out of the National Advocacy Center in Washington, D.C., and in partnership with all of the Federation’s regional centers and state/territorial affiliates.