Meet the Speakers: Climate & Disability Justice Learning Institute Event

Jen Deerinwater is a bisexual, Two-Spirit, multiply-disabled, citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and an award-winning journalist and organizer who covers the myriad of issues their communities face with an intersectional lens. Jen is the founding executive director of Crushing Colonialism and has been awarded several fellowships, including the 2019 New Economies Reporting Project, 2020 Disability Futures, and the 2024 Disability Visibility fellowship at the Unexpected Shape Writing Academy. Jen is a contributor at Truthout and their work has been featured in a wide range of publications. Jen is also the editor of the anthology Sacred and Subversive: Queer Voices on Faith and Spirituality (Jessica Kingsley Publishers) due out in early 2026.

As Senior Learning Officer, Evaluation and Learning at the MacArthur Foundation, Ada leads the design and evolution of learning opportunities that enable program, department, and organizational development and continuous learning. Based in Chicago, Ada facilitates the use of data and learning insights to inform decision-making, strategy, and alignment to organizational values. Ada has led social justice work in the nonprofit, public health, education, and philanthropic sectors.

Tanya Gulliver-Garcia (she/they) brings practical, lived, academic and philanthropic understandings of disasters to her work as the Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s Director, Educational Impact. Tanya is a self-described “disaster junkie” who is passionate about ensuring the most marginalized and oppressed in our communities can recover and build resilience. Their work is grounded in principles of equity and an understanding of how the intersections of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, class and other identities affect the lives of individuals and their families/communities.

Chenier "Klie" Kliebert is the Executive Director of Imagine Water Works, an organization in New Orleans that reimagines the future through art, science, and connection. As founding ED, Klie has led most of IWW’s programs from their inception to today, focusing on climate, land stewardship, and disaster readiness and response. Since 2018 their work has resulted in a Mutual Aid Response Network of 10,000 Louisiana residents and the distribution of over $350,000 to BIPOC and LGBTQ individuals in response to intersecting social and environmental crises. Klie is passionate about building networks of solidarity and cultural resilience across the Gulf South.

As a senior fellow with the Detroit Program, Phyllis D. Meadows engages in all levels of grantmaking activity. Since joining The Kresge Foundation in 2009, she has advised the Detroit and Health teams on the development of its overall strategic direction and provided leadership in the design and implementation of grantmaking initiatives and projects. Phyllis also has coached team members and created linkages to national organizations and experts in the health field. In addition, she regularly reviews grant proposals, aids prospective grantees in preparing funding requests, and provides health-related expertise. Phyllis has led the foundation’s Emerging Leaders and Public Health Program, advises and supports the development of cross-team programming efforts with the Detroit, Environment and Human Services programs.

Naomi Ortiz (they/she) is a Reclaiming the US/Mexico Border Narrative Awardee and a 2022 U.S. Artist Disability Futures Fellow. Their writing, poetry, and visual artwork explores how to create connection and meaning within rapid states of change. Ortiz is the author of the essay/art/poetry collection, Rituals for Climate Change: A Crip Struggle for Ecojustice, the non-fiction book/workbook, Sustaining Spirit: Self-Care for Social Justice, and is a co-editor of the forthcoming anthology, Every Place on the Map is Disabled: Poems and Essays. Ortiz is a Disabled, Mestize (Mess-tea-say) living in the Arizona U.S./Mexico borderlands.

Justice Shorter is a skilled organizer/facilitator, Disability Justice amplifier and senior advisor on issues at the intersection of race, disability, gender, health, climate, and crises. She is a national expert on disability inclusive disaster protections, emergency management and humanitarian crises/conflicts. As a curator and composer, she has orchestrated immersive training experiences for thousands of participants worldwide. As a strategist and dreamscaper, she has worked with countless organizations to meaningfully and measurably enhance their equity efforts. Justice recently formed SeededGround, an agency devoted to content creation that centers people of color with disabilities. Determined to sow justice and harvest dreams, SeededGround projects are intentionally designed in ways that are imaginative and intersectional. Her work is lovingly wedded to worldbuilding our collective liberation into fruition.

Shaylin Sluzalis (she/her) and Germán Parodi (he/him) are the Co-Executive Directors of The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies – the U.S. Disability and Disaster Hub, led by and for Disabled people throughout disasters. They both come from independent living and disability rights backgrounds, and are both persons with disabilities. Both their experiences led them to be powerful advocates and activists. Shaylin and Germán's journey responding to disasters and emergencies began in 2017 when they were deployed to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria as disabled first responders meeting the needs of disaster-impacted people with disabilities. Which now fuels their dedicated and focused work in inclusive emergency management and community resilience nationwide.

Luis “Vance” Taylor is the Chief of the Office of Access and Functional Needs at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Vance leads the team responsible for ensuring the needs of individuals with disabilities and persons with access or functional considerations are identified and integrated into the State’s emergency management systems before, during, and after disasters. Vance was appointed by President Biden to serve as a member of the President's National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) in 2022. As a member of the NIAC, Vance advised the White House on how to reduce physical and cyber risks and how to improve the security and resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure sectors. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Vance was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy as a child and uses a power wheelchair. He has worked in Washington, D.C. as an advisor for two different members of Congress, directed security policy at a national water association, and been a principal at a ranked homeland security and emergency management consulting firm. Vance is a nationally recognized public speaker and advocate for individuals with Disabilities. Vance has a Master’s degree in homeland security from the University of Connecticut and an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in communications. He is married to his sweetheart, Casey, and they have two wonderful daughters. Vance and his family live in Rancho Cordova, CA.

Elizabeth Yeampierre is an internationally recognized Puerto Rican climate justice leader of Black and Indigenous ancestry, born and raised in NYC. Elizabeth is co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance, a national frontline led organization and Executive Director of UPROSE, Brooklyn's oldest Latino community-based organization. Elizabeth was the 1st Latina Chair of the USEPA National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and opening speaker for the 1st White House Council on Environmental Quality Forum on Environmental Justice under Obama. Elizabeth was featured in the NY Times as a visionary paving the path to Climate Justice, named by Apolitical as Climate 100: The World’s Most Influential People in Climate Policy , featured in Vogue as one of 13 international Climate Warriors, Oprah’s list of Future Rising- more recently a 2025 TIME Magazine Closer and People Magazine in Español Climate Change leader. She has spoken at Oxford, the Hague and the Pasteur Institute in Paris.