The Future We’re Building- Digital Program - Children's Environmental Health Network

The Future We’re Building Symposium Digital Program

Washington, DC | February 19, 2026 | 8:30 am - 2 pm ET

A collaborative event by Children’s Environmental Health Network and The Center for Environmental Policy at American University’s School of Public Affairs.

Agenda

8:30 am – Breakfast

9:00 am – Welcome, Opening Remarks
Daniel Fiorino- Director, Center for Environmental Policy at American University’s School of Public Affairs

9:10 am – A Decade of Children’s Environmental Health
Nsedu Obot Witherspoon- Executive Director, Children’s Environmental Health Network

9:30 am – Fireside Chat: Changemaking at the Local Level
Leah Defenbaugh- Director of Youth Development Projects, Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board
Daniel Fiorino- Director, Center for Environmental Policy at American University’s School of Public Affairs

10:15 am – Break

10:30 am – Panel: Healthy Places to Live, Learn, and Play
Amanda Reddy- Executive Director, National Center for Healthy Housing
Alissa Mwenelupembe- Chief Early Learning Quality and Research Officer, National Association for the Education of Young Children
John Reeder- Executive Director, Healthy Schools Network
Claudia Persico- Associate Professor of Public Administration and Policy, American University’s School of Public Affairs
Kristie Trousdale-Deputy Director, Children’s Environmental Health Network (Moderator)

11:30 am – Lunch

12:45 pm – Panel: The Future We’re Building
Sadie Yoder – Student, American University
Staci Hartwell- Energy Advisor and Unapologetic Disruptor of the Status Quo
LaTricea Adams-Founder, CEO, and President, Young Gifted and Green
Tom Pelton- Director of Communications, Environmental Integrity Project
Leslie Fields- Chief Federal Officer, West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT for Environmental Justice) (Moderator)

1:45 pm – Closing Remarks
Nsedu Obot Witherspoon- Executive Director, Children’s Environmental Health Network

Speakers

Listed in order of appearance on agenda

Daniel Fiorino

Director, Center for Environmental Policy at American University’s School of Public Affairs

Daniel J. Fiorino is the founding Director of the Center for Environmental Policy and Distinguished Executive in Residence in the School of Public Affairs at American University. A faculty member in the Department of Public Administration and Policy, he teaches environmental policy, energy and climate change, environmental sustainability, and public management.
Dan is the sole co-author of seven books and around 60 articles, with more than 5,300 citations and multiple award-winning publications, including A Good Life on a Finite Earth. He has received ten national and international honors and has held senior leadership roles at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before joining American University in 2009. Dan is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, has been widely featured in international media, and has contributed to environmental governance through initiatives such as founding the William K. Reilly Fund for Environmental Governance and Leadership.

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon

Executive Director, Children’s Environmental Health Network

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, MPH, serves as the Executive Director for the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN), extending partnerships, organizing, leading, and managing policy, education/training, and science-related programs. For the past 23 years, she has served as a key spokesperson for children’s vulnerabilities and the need for their protection.

Leah Defenbaugh

Director of Youth Development Projects, Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board

Leah has 15 years’ experience in the field of youth development, where she has focused on youth voice. At Twin Cities PBS, Leah led engagement on the Moving Lives Minnesota project, where she worked to collect Minnesotans’ immigration stories, and trained teachers to help youth share their own stories. At the Youth Coordinating Board, Leah leads the Minneapolis Afterschool Network, which connects youth work professionals through communication, professional development, and programming opportunities with the goal of making their out-of-school time programs better. Leah’s background and connections in the youth work field will allow her to foster partnerships, train and educate youth work staff, and collect stories of youth and the professionals who work with them.

Amanda Reddy

Executive Director, National Center for Healthy Housing

Amanda Reddy is the Executive Director of the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH), where she leads a national effort to advance housing as a platform for health and equity. Amanda describes her path into the field of environmental health by saying that she took a job and found a calling. Over the last 20 years she has answered that call by working with communities to effectively prevent housing-related illness and injury by implementing evidence-based and equitable policies that improve housing quality. She is a nationally recognized voice on the intersection of housing and health and has served as a strategic advisor to numerous federal agencies, philanthropic initiatives, and community-based coalitions. Under her leadership, NCHH has expanded its impact and visibility, strengthening the evidence base and partnerships necessary to create lasting systems change. Prior to joining the National Center for Healthy Housing, Amanda was a research scientist supporting a range of New York State Department of Health programs focused on improving indoor and outdoor air quality in homes, schools, workplaces, and outdoor settings. She holds degrees in environmental health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and neuroscience from Mount Holyoke College.

Alissa Mwenelupembe

Chief Early Learning Quality and Research Officer, National Association for the Education of Young Children

Alissa Mwenelupembe has worked in early childhood education for the past 20 years and has a long history with NAEYC as a member, volunteer, author and past student governing board member. That engagement took on another level when she joined NAEYC in December of 2020 as the Senior Director, Early Learning Program Accreditation. Alissa now serves on NAEYC’s Executive Team as Chief Early Learning Quality and Research Officer.

Anchored by a passion to ensure all children have access to high quality early learning opportunities, Alissa has occupied various roles throughout her professional journey. She began her career as an early childhood educator working with toddlers and eventually transitioned into leadership roles, including an extensive period where she served as the Center Director at three NAEYC accredited early learning centers. She has also been a coach and content specialist in Indiana’s QRIS system: Paths to QUALITY, written content for Exchange Press, helped to draft the Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education NAEYC position statement, as well as co-edited the book Each & Every Child: Teaching Preschool with an Equity Lens published by NAEYC.

John Reeder

Executive Director, Healthy Schools Network

John E. Reeder, MA, Executive Director, was appointed in March 2025. He leads national efforts to improve indoor air quality, eliminate toxic exposures, and promote safe, resilient school environments for children nationwide. Before joining HS Network, Reeder served as Vice President for Federal Affairs with the Environmental Working Group, a leading national environmental advocacy organization. Reeder’s career is deeply rooted in public service, including over 30 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where he held career Senior Executive Service positions including Deputy Chief of Staff, Director of Congressional Affairs, and head of the cleanup program for federal Superfund sites. Following his government service, he taught environmental policy and conducted research on emerging environmental challenges as an Executive-in-Residence at American University’s School of Public Affairs. Prior to attending college, Reeder deployed overseas with the U.S. military and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. He later earned a B.S. in applied economics from the University of Minnesota, and an M.A. in public affairs from the University’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

Claudia Persico

Associate Professor of Public Administration and Policy, American University’s School of Public Affairs

Claudia Persico is an economist whose research focuses on environmental policy, inequality, health and education policy using causal inference methods. Persico is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), an IZA Institute of Labor Economics Research Fellow, and a Research Affiliate with the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. Her research has recently been featured in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Labor Economics, and the Journal of Human Resources. Her current work examines the social and biological mechanisms underlying the relationships between poverty, the environment, and children’s cognitive development and health. In particular, much of her current research focuses on how early exposure to environmental pollution can cause inequality by affecting child and adult health, development, behavior, and academic achievement. She has also studied how school funding impacts long term outcomes, how school segregation affects racial disproportionalities in special education, and how childhood exposure to pollution affects academic outcomes. Her research has been covered by the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, the Atlantic, and many other major media outlets. She was formerly an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Kristie Trousdale

Deputy Director, Children’s Environmental Health Network

Kristie Trousdale, MPH is the Deputy Director of the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN), where she provides organizational and programmatic leadership and development. She leads the Network’s science translation and education projects and policy and advocacy program. Ms. Trousdale has over fifteen years of experience developing curriculum and other educational resources for CEHN’s initiatives including the Eco-Healthy Child Care® program, and served as Co-Editor of “Putting it into Practice” a pediatric environmental health training resource for health care faculty. She currently serves as a member of the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and as Co-chair of the Children’s Environmental Health Committee of the American Public Health Association.

Sadie Yoder

Student, American University

Sadie Yoder is a master’s student at American University working towards an MS in Sustainability Management. Last year, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree from American University with a double major in Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government (CLEG) and Environmental Studies. Sadie completed two years of internship experience while earning her undergraduate degree, which included working at organizations like the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) in Nairobi, Kenya, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in Harrisburg, PA, and most recently, the World Resources Institute in D.C.

Staci Hartwell

Energy Advisor and Unapologetic Disruptor of the Status Quo

Staci Hartwell is an Energy Advisor with more than 40 MW of solar installed from the DMV to New England, including the largest solar project in the Nation’s capital. She developed her expertise at Tesla and has advanced solar adoption through grassroots, institutional, and corporate partnerships. As Chair Emerita for the NAACP Maryland State Conference Environmental and Climate Justice Committee, she led major initiatives such as, to name a few, state-wide Maryland HBCU Legislative Night, Maryland Solar Equity Initiative, Environmental and Climate Roundtables, Forums, and other convenings, and HBCUBEST–a solar education pilot conducted with Bowie State University Students. Staci serves on the boards of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, Potomac Riverkeeper Network, the Maryland Sierra Club Executive Committee, Dreaming Out Loud, and Waterkeepers Chesapeake, and is the founding strategic advisor of the South County Environmental Justice Coalition. Her work centers on expanding renewable energy and environmental justice for underserved communities.

LaTricea Adams

Founder, CEO, and President, Young Gifted and Green

LaTricea Adams is the Founder and CEO of Young, Gifted & Green, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing environmental justice and climate leadership through education, advocacy, and community engagement. A dynamic organizer and strategist, Latricea works at the intersection of climate action, public health, and equity, empowering communities of color and young leaders to drive systemic change. She is a nationally recognized voice on environmental justice, known for her ability to connect grassroots experiences with policy solutions that advance a more just and sustainable future.

Tom Pelton

Director of Communications, Environmental Integrity Project

Tom Pelton is the Director of Communications at the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and also Co-Director of EIP’s Center for Environmental Investigations. He joined EIP in 2014 after working as a journalist for The Baltimore Sun, where he was twice named one of the best environmental reporters in America by the Society of Environmental Journalists. He also hosted the public radio program “The Environment in Focus” on WYPR-FM in Baltimore for 14 years and worked as a correspondent for The Boston Globe and as a reporter for The Chicago Tribune. He is author of the book, The Chesapeake in Focus: Transforming the Natural World, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. He is a graduate of Georgetown University (B.A.) and the University of Chicago (M.A.).

Leslie Fields

Chief Federal Officer, West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT for Environmental Justice)

Leslie G. Fields, Esq. is WE ACT for Environmental Justice’s Chief Federal Officer and a veteran environmental justice and civil rights leader with 30 years of experience across federal, state, local, and international policy. Prior to WE ACT she served as the National Director of Policy, Advocacy and Legal at the Sierra Club and as a consultant at the U.S. Department of Energy. Fields shaped national advocacy and legal strategies on climate, environmental justice, and democratic participation. Fields serves on multiple nonprofit boards, has taught law at Howard University, received numerous national honors for her leadership, and holds degrees from Cornell University and Georgetown University Law Center.