The Barr Foundation today announced the appointment of Kalila Barnett as Program Officer, Climate Resilience. In this new role, Kalila will focus on Climate Resilience, which the Foundation added as a third priority of its climate program in late 2017. Kalila will begin July 9.
Currently the Interim Executive Director at the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Kalila served for eight years as Executive Director of Alternatives for Community & Environment, a Boston-based nonprofit working to build the power of low-income communities and communities of color in Massachusetts and the region to advocate for more healthy, sustainable communities.
“Barr added climate resilience to its climate program because we believed we could play a constructive role advancing solutions that protect Boston from sea level rise, extreme heat and other climate related impacts,” said Mary Skelton Roberts, Co-Director of Climate. “We are delighted that Kalila will be joining the Barr team to help us achieve these goals. An experienced nonprofit leader, she brings deep ties to Boston communities, and a deep understanding of how to collaborate with people in communities, environmental organizations, businesses, and government to solve problems, and achieve greater environmental health and well-being for all.”
Kalila has over a decade of experience in community organizing for affordable housing, land development, and environmental justice. Prior to her work at Alternatives for Community & Environment, she was a Senior Organizer with Community Labor United, and she also worked at Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation and Madison Park Development Corporation. Kalila serves on the boards of the Mass Budget and Policy Center, The Center for Environmental Health, and the Center for Economic Democracy. A graduate of Bates College, where she earned a degree in American Studies and Spanish, Kalila recently received a Masters in Public Policy from the Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning School at Tufts University.
“Climate resilience is the nexus where people from the nonprofit, private, and public sectors can come together to create a more vibrant future for our region,” said Barnett. “I look forward to putting my experience to work helping Barr and its partners develop and further ideas that ensure our region thrives despite the challenges ahead.”
