A Tribute to Jalonne White-Newsome

I met Jalonne White-Newsome over a decade ago when I was an Environmental Health Associate at WE ACT for Environmental Justice. From the

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moment I received an email from her (which contained her bio) I immediately knew I wanted to meet her. Since then, I’ve had the honor of working with Jalonne as a colleague to serving the HEFN community with her as a Steering Committee member. During her time with HEFN, Jalonne was instrumental in bringing together funders to work across climate, health, and equity within the philanthropic space, and taught colleagues about the delicate dance we all do to create opportunities for equitable funding. She continues to set an example of what it looks like to offer care for the whole person and organization. At the height of the pandemic, I was inspired by a self-care webinar that I attended where I learned about all the ways that we as Program Officers can support our grantees in improving their communities while managing their own mental health needs. Jalonne cared for her grantees, her colleagues, and her family. She is a world class researcher, engineer, mother, and all-around awesome person. We are sad to see Jalonne leave the HEFN Steering Committee and excited to see what the future holds for her as she begins the next phase of her career as a CEO and Founder. I close this short appreciation post with a quote from Wangari Maathai that embodies so much of Jalonne’s spirit.

“We have a responsibility to protect the rights of generations, or all species, that cannot speak for themselves today. The global challenge of climate change requires that we ask no less of our leaders, or ourselves.”

Cheers to you Jalonne!