Jolisa Brooks
Senior Advisor, Organizational Systems
Taproot’s Krewe poses in shared purpose following a shared time of reflection and strategy at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. (April 2024)
Krewe stands with and for frontline climate organizers united by shared stewardship during the GCR Governance Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya (August 2024)
Taproot’s Krewe poses in shared purpose following a shared time of reflection and strategy at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. (April 2024)
Taproot Earth is a U.S.-based nonprofit, non-governmental organization advancing Global Climate Reparations.
We are a committed collective and global facilitation team of senior advisors, Krewe members, formations, and frontline climate organizers who bring deep relationships, political clarity, and a shared commitment to climate justice to everything we do.
Together, we choose now for repair, collective power, and frontline governance rooted in community and carried across regions, waters, and borders. Grounded in what we have inherited from our ancestors and entrusted with what is yet to come, we carry this work forward with humility, courage, and care.
Senior Advisor, Organizational Systems
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Senior Advisor
Veronica Coptis (she/her) is a Senior Advisor at Taproot Earth. Growing up beside a large underground coal mine in Appalachia, she experienced firsthand the impacts of the fossil fuel industry and was inspired to organize for systemic change. Veronica calls the Appalachian Mountains and the Monongahela River home, places that offer grounding, renewal, and a deep sense of belonging, comfort, and connection on the hardest days.
Ama Francis (they/them) is a Senior Advisor at Taproot Earth. They grew up loving the rivers of their home island Dominica, and fully committed to reparative climate finance and climate migration work supportive of remaining, moving and returning after Hurricane Maria devastated many islands across the Caribbean. Dominica is the land that most claims Ama, but they live in Oakland, California where they enjoy being part of a vibrant political community.
Senior Advisor, Financial Systems
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Global Policy & Partnerships Specialist
Eliane Lakam (she/her) is the Global Policy & Partnerships Specialist at Taproot Earth, where she engages partners, institutions, and climate policy systems around the world to advance Global Climate Reparations. Her climate awakening began very early in her childhood on the African continent, where she witnessed firsthand the disproportionate impacts of climate issues on her community. She draws strength from the spirit of ubuntu that transcends borders and unites us all in a shared responsibility to care for one another and the Earth.
Climate Policy Specialist
Kendall Dix (he/him) is a Climate Policy Specialist at Taproot Earth. His radicalizing moment around the climate crisis came while working through hurricanes as a line cook in New Orleans. He now lives near the James River and Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia, where he spends as much time as possible canoeing, hiking, and exploring the outdoors with his family.
Senior Program Strategist
Fayenisha “Faye” Matthews (she/her) is a Senior Program Strategist at Taproot Earth. After being displaced by Hurricane Katrina, she became acutely aware of the harm and disruption caused by a rapidly changing climate. She committed herself to understanding the decisions that place frontline communities and ecosystems at risk. Faye calls New Orleans home, where she loves the scent of magnolia blossoms in spring, morning walks along the Mississippi River, and sunsets on Lake Pontchartrain.
Program Strategist
Zanetta Rose Jones (she/they) is the Program Strategist for We Choose Now at Taproot Earth. Born and raised in Central Florida on occupied Timicua territory, she grew up with a deep appreciation for the natural world and the cycles of beauty and destruction within it. Her connection to climate justice began with the realization that communities around her experienced climate impacts very differently. She still calls Florida home but considers anywhere lush, green, and humid a close second. What she loves most about the land that birthed her are the people, the sun, and the abundance of water.
Resource Stewardship Manager
Caitlin Fritz (she/her) is the Resource Stewardship Manager at Taproot Earth. She is deeply moved by the transformative power of community gardens and their ability to unite people while building collective strength for climate and environmental justice. Calling Philadelphia home, she finds serenity and inspiration along Pennypack Creek, sharing peaceful moments with her dog beneath the sheltering embrace of Dogwood trees.
Executive Production Manager
Jade Jacobs Johnson (she/her) is the Executive Production Manager at Taproot Earth. Her journey into climate justice began in the newsroom while covering major climate disasters, where she witnessed firsthand how quickly media attention moved on, often leaving frontline communities behind. That disconnect sparked her commitment to ensuring frontline voices are heard long after the headlines fade. Jade calls Dallas home, where her greatest joy is her family, the heartbeat of everything she does.
Manager, Curriculum and Archiving
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Creative Content Manager
Lynette Aluoch (they/them) is a Creative Content Manager at Taproot Earth. Witnessing widespread hyacinth invasion in Nam Lolwe, where her grandfather fished in the 1930s and 40s, forms the basis of her climate justice work and deep ties to the East African queer human rights movement. Lynette calls Kilifi and Nairobi, Kenya home. She is a queer artist with a fierce passion for Pan-African revolution, community building, philosophy, and the art of questions.
Network Coordinator, Taproot Noire
Sophia Andrews (she/her) is the Network Coordinator of Taproot Noire, one of Taproot Earth’s formations. Her work is deeply rooted in experiences organizing with young people across East Africa. These relationships helped her draw connections between the climate challenges facing their communities and those in her own. Sophia calls Washington, DC home and loves the city's artistic offerings, diverse culinary scene, and vibrant creative energy.
Network Manager, Gulf South to Appalachia
Carlos Torrealba is the Network Manager of Gulf South to Appalachia (GS2A). Growing up in Florida, Carlos witnessed the escalating impacts of disasters and the harmful consequences of disaster capitalism year after year. These firsthand experiences fueled his passion for driving change and advancing solutions that support frontline communities facing growing climate challenges.
Campaign Manager, Youth Projects & Board Relations Coordinator
Jamie Dardar (she/her) is the Campaign Manager of Youth Projects & Board Relations Coordinator at Taproot Earth. Growing up in Southeast Louisiana, hurricanes and land loss were part of her life from an early age. While doing direct disaster relief after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, she became deeply committed to telling the story of her people, the United Houma Nation. She calls Houma, Louisiana home and treasures the beauty of the land the mighty Mississippi River built.
Manager, Website and Digital Infrastructure
Eghosa Asemota (she/her) supports Taproot Earth as its Website and Digital Infrastructure Manager. Her climate awakening came at age 11, witnessing the media coverage of Hurricane Katrina. What stayed with her wasn’t just the devastation, but the injustice, both visible and ignored, that shaped her understanding of the power of stories to mobilize care. Home, for Eghosa, is both Queens, NY and Benin City, Edo State. In both, communal care and action are part of the living story.
Executive Coordinator
A.L. "A" McCullough (they/them) is the Executive Coordinator to the senior leadership team at Taproot Earth. Drawing from a background in landscape architecture, A works to turn the wheel of the workplace toward climate justice. Their climate awakening began when a local gas station polluted the groundwater in their childhood neighborhood. Watching their mother fight for clean water for both family and neighbors inspired them to become a climate advocate. They call Astoria, Queens home.
Taproot Earth's Global Facilitators are a constellation of frontline climate organizers whose wisdom has been forged in the struggle for land, water, and self-determination. Chosen for the trust they hold within their communities and for their audacity to demand what liberation requires, they help carry forward the vision and practice of Global Climate Reparations.
With their shared practice and ongoing exchange, they guide Taproot’s global gatherings, stewarding community-governed decision-making and tending the relationships that make repair, solidarity, and collective action possible.
We listen because they know the way.
North Carolina
WE SINCE 2026
Cape Verde
WE SINCE 2026
Uganda
WE SINCE 2026
Ghana
WE SINCE 2026
Kenya
WE SINCE 2026
Democratic Republic of the Congo
WE SINCE 2026
Ethiopia
WE SINCE 2026
Virginia
WE SINCE 2026
Antigua & Barbuda
WE SINCE 2026
Brazil
WE SINCE 2026
Gambia
WE SINCE 2026
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
WE SINCE 2026
California
WE SINCE 2026
Puerto Rico
WE SINCE 2026
Antigua & Barbuda
WE SINCE 2026
Comoros
WE SINCE 2026
United Kingdom
WE SINCE 2026
Senegal
WE SINCE 2026
Ireland
WE SINCE 2026
Zimbabwe
WE SINCE 2026
Uganda
WE SINCE 2026
Zambia
WE SINCE 2026
Perú
WE SINCE 2026
Cape Verde
WE SINCE 2026
Haiti
WE SINCE 2026
Haiti
WE SINCE 2026
Kenya
WE SINCE 2026
Formations are frontline-led networks practicing shared governance to build alignment, deepen relationships, and advance collective strategies rooted in self-determination.
Convened and resourced by Taproot Earth, they are spaces where frontline leaders connect, coordinate, and move solutions forward across regions, building community power, climate repair, and justice together.
A global formation of Black leaders across the African Diaspora connecting climate frontline wisdom to build models of governance, stewardship, and repair rooted in Black liberation, Black joy and collective self-determination.
A regional formation of frontline organizations and leaders across 17 states building political power, shared strategy, and community-led climate solutions rooted in the interconnected histories, lands, and waters of the Gulf South and Appalachia.
A formation of attorneys and legal workers supporting frontline-led movements with legal strategy, protection, and infrastructure to dismantle extractive systems and advance equitable, democratic futures.
Taproot Earth works in relationship with a broad network of partners, coalitions, and movement spaces advancing climate justice, Black liberation, and Indigenous sovereignty.
We hold these partnerships and affiliations with care, as each reflects where we build, contribute, and organize alongside others in support of reparative climate action.
We are proud partners of:
We are active members of:
What we've helped build:
Southern Movement Assembly (Founder)
Southern Power Fund (Founder)
Energy Democracy Project (Co-Founder)
The Water Equity and Climate Resilience Caucus (Co-Founder)
