WHO WE ARE
A SPACE FOR YOU TO GROW
We're tapping into the existing power that all low-income youth and youth of color have to make grassroots change. We're en route to environmental justice. At Youth on Root, we are not just another environmental nonprofit—we are a movement builder. Our mission is to equip, resource, and mobilize frontline youth to lead the environmental justice movement. We do this by centering youth leadership, intergenerational learning, and strategic impact.
Our People
Candice Youngblood founded YoR in 2020 to create what she needed growing up: a community where frontline youth can conceptualize, contextualize, and combat environmental racism. YoR has three equal branches of leadership: Executive Director (ED), Rachael Meyers-Jones, Advisory Council (AC), and Youth Advisory Board (YAB). Rachael and Candice are Black women (age 33 and 32) with chronic illnesses from frontline communities. The AC & YAB are chaired by women of color under age 25. Our team is made up of BIPOC under age 35 with lived experience with EJ, 70% of whom are women or nonbinary. 70% of the YAB are young women or gender expansive. 100% of the YAB are youth of color from frontline communities. YAB members have called YoR their home, a community they can always lean on to be seen, understood, supported, and championed. For most, the YAB was their first time gathering with peers who share their experience and passion for fighting for EJ in their communities.
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Candice Youngblood
FOUNDER
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Rachael Meyers (she/her)
Executive Director