Peggy Shepard
Executive Director, West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc.
2004 Rachel Carson Award Honoree
Peggy Shepard is executive director and co-founder of West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. (WE ACT). WE ACT, New York's first environmental justice organization was created in 1988 to improve environmental health and quality of life in communities of color.
A former Democratic District Leader and President of the National Women's Political Caucus-Manhattan, and first female chair of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council to the EPA, Ms. Shepard is currently co-chair of the Northeast Environmental Justice Network.
An author and former journalist, Ms. Shepard has published many articles chronicling environmental impacts on urban health. Her numerous honors include the10th Annual Heinz Award for the Environment, a Community Service Award from West Harlem Group Assistance, a Feinstone Environmental Award from SUNY, and the Dean's Distinguished Service Award from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.
In addition to being honored with Audubon's Rachel Carson Award in 2004, Ms. Shepard also received the Earth Day Award for Excellence in Environmental Advocacy from Earth Day NY, the Susan B. Anthony Award from the National Organization of Women NYC Chapter, and the Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats honored her for political and environmental advocacy. A board member of the national and New York Leagues of Conservation Voters, Environmental Defense, NY Earth Day, Audubon NY, the Children's Environmental Health Network, and Healthy Schools Network, Inc., she is an advisory board member of the Bellevue Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic, the Harlem Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and Mt. Sinai's Children's Environmental Health Center.
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