Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, MLS, LEED AP, cSBA, is executive director of the Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS), a cooperative public library system that serves more than 600,000 Hudson Valley residents via 66 public libraries. Rebekkah is a co-creator of The Library of Local Program, along with Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley, which is devoted to strengthening community resilience through partnerships catalyzed between public libraries and neighbors. Rebekkah is the co-founder and board president of the award-winning  Sustainable Libraries Initiative (SLI) and principal author of the award-winning Sustainable Library Certification Program for public, academic and school libraries. Rebekkah was the principal author of the National Climate Action Strategy for Libraries and the companion implementation guide. For over twenty-five years, Rebekkah has worked with public libraries across the globe to ensure library services are relevant and responsive so that communities can thrive. A lifelong Hudson Valley resident, Rebekkah currently lives in Columbia County with her husband Adam.

Naomi is the founder of the Dept of Small Interventions (DoSI) and leads The Fullerton, a nonprofit organization focused on community-driven, place-based projects in Newburgh. Her work integrates arts, culture, and history into urban planning, with a participatory approach that amplifies local assets and builds social infrastructure. Projects range from Frederick Douglass in Newburgh (2018-2020), Newburgh Arts & Cultural Study (2020) to present day projects like Regional Connector and Archtober Newburgh. Naomi co-founded No Longer Empty, a NYC-based nonprofit known for transforming vacant sites into community art spaces, and has presented widely on adaptive reuse, cultural tourism, and creative placemaking.

She holds a Master’s in Urban Planning from Columbia University and has served on numerous boards and advisory groups, including the Institute for Public Architecture, Storm King Art Center’s Council, and the City of Newburgh’s Transportation Advisory Committee. Naomi is also a founding trustee of the Awesome Newburgh Foundation and an alumna of the Coro New York Leadership program.

I do the work that I do because I believe that we are each the social architects of our society. I see choice as the only force in the universe. I am an artist and though my work is only occasionally in tangible form, my life is my art. The way I walk, talk, move and breathe is my expression. I believe in living in possibility, and want to prove to my kids that anything is possible, even world peace. Anything is possible. I believe that we are moving towards oneness. I work to unify where there is division. I work selfishly to expand my own definition of self till I can act selfishly and towards the good of the universe simultaneously knowing that they are one in the same.

In seeking unity, I work to counter-measure the us vs. them paradigm. I do this as a Worker-Trustee at the Good Work Institute, as a workshop leader at TMI Project, as a mindfulness practitioner and facilitator and as much as I can as a human being working in my community and especially as a father.

Martin Ping is the CEO of Hawthorne Valley Association, a not-for-profit working to renew soil, society and self through the integration of agriculture, education and art on a 900-acre Biodynamic farm. Hawthorne Valley has provided Martin the opportunity to weave together his reverence for nature, love of community, and interest in food for nearly 40 years in a variety of roles. Martin has served as CEO since 2003, balancing his time developing synergies amongst the Association’s diverse enterprises with cultivating collaborative relationships between Hawthorne Valley and other mission aligned organizations in the Upper Hudson Valley/Berkshire region and beyond. He also teaches economics at Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School. As CEO, Martin has helped Hawthorne Valley launch a number of new initiatives within the Association as well as incubate several others within the region. In 2018, Martin’s passion for supporting the next generation in finding meaningful vocations led him to co-found Place Corps, a Hudson Valley-based educational institute dedicated to creating innovative solutions for regenerative, joyful livelihoods for all. He is co-founder and storyteller for The Magical Puppet Tree, a founding member of the Slow Money Alliance, and has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations. The role Martin is most grateful for is being Poppy to his grandchildren.

I am a scientist, author, and advisor who leads efforts at the intersection of planetary health and community resilience. My work integrates science with the skills and wisdom cultivated through contemplative traditions.

As Director of the Pathways to Planetary Health initiative at the Garrison Institute, I convene leaders across science, policy, and practice to strengthen our capacity for resilience. Over the past two decades, I have:

    •  Directed and developed strategic initiatives that have shaped policy and philanthropic investments in planetary health,
    •  Built cross-sector collaborations that bridged science and policy,
    •  Guided companies in recognizing how they impact and depend on nature, and
    •  Co-authored more than 50 publications and reports influencing biodiversity, economics, food systems, and science-policy dialogues.
​
My public work has appeared in The National Academy of Sciences, The Royal Society, journals like Sustainability Science, and outlets like the New York Times, The Hill, and Bloomberg Law. Currently, I serve as a co-author of United by Nature, a multi-year initiative producing the first national assessment of U.S. lands, waters, and wildlife to show how nature shapes our lives. 

Previously, as Director of Policy and Partnerships with the Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont, I helped form a U.S. Federal Center of Excellence on climate impacts and launched a new university-wide focus on environmental justice. I also led teams in producing the Vermont Climate Assessment 2020 and synthesizing research for the USDA Office of the Chief Economist. 

Based in northern Vermont and originally from Baltimore, Maryland, I received a B.S. in astrophysics, studied science education at Stanford University, and earned a Ph.D. in natural resources and ecological economics. Outside of work, I value time with family and nature in the Green Mountains. I continue to work with communities who share a vision for resilience and compassion in the face of planetary challenges.

Alexander (he/him) is the CEO and co-founder of Turtle Island Community Capital (TICC), a Native-led CDFI committed to economic sovereignty, climate justice, and cultural revitalization across Indigenous communities. With ancestral roots in the Ramapo Lenape Nation, Cuba, and the African diaspora and a deep commitment to relational finance, Alexander brings two decades of experience in clean energy, community development, and impact investing.

Prior to founding TICC, Alexander ran a private consulting firm in San Francisco and supported renewable energy projects from residential to utility scale in tribal, rural, and urban communities. He is a frequent speaker at RE+, SOCAP, and other national convenings on climate finance and Indigenous-led investing, driving attention and interest to build a capital ecosystem by bringing together philanthropy, investment , and Traditional Ecologic Knowledge. His leadership at TICC and beyond integrates policy advocacy, philanthropic engagement, and culturally grounded underwriting to serve first-generation entrepreneurs, tribal nations, and grassroots organizers.

Alexander is a proud father of 3, a student of Munsee and Lenape teachings, and a champion of community resilience. His current work has been supported by The Rhode Island Foundation, Oweesta, Boston Impact Initiative, The Grassroots Fund, The Center For Indigenous People’s Rights, The Just Economy Institute, and Native Americans In Philanthropy and supports the Native communities and individuals in the Northeast.

Alexander holds a degree from the University of Rhode Island, and serves on national advisory communities advancing equity in finance and environmental justice.

Dar has been a touring singer-songwriter for over thirty years, adding to her performance career with teaching about the history of people’s movements and music (Wesleyan, Barnard), a songwriting retreat, Writing a Song That Matters (since 2013), and presentations related to her book, What I Found in a Thousand Towns (2017), that explores the building of social trust and bridging social capital as seen firsthand from years of visiting, and returning to, places where she has witnessed the growth of what she has called Positive Proximity, “the state of being, in towns and cities, where living side by side with others is recognized as beneficial.”