Shameika Hanson, Community Engagement & Adaptation Intern

Shameika grew up in Huntington Station, Long Island, NY. She obtained an associate’s degree from Nassau Community College in Communications, with a focus on interpersonal relationship skills, in 2010. Subsequently, she attended Stony Brook University, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Humanities in May 2014. Upon graduating she moved to continue her career full time coordinating volunteers, music, and events for the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater Inc., a non-profit organization based in Beacon, NY. She later spent two years working for another 501-c3 called Mothers Out Front, organizing community members concerned about their children's future around eliminating fossil fuels.

Shameika has since returned to Long Island and began working at The Nature Conservancy as a Community Protection Specialist. She connects with community leaders, residents, and coalitions in areas dealing with chronic flooding to help build local knowledge and capacity, so they can better adapt to the changing coastline. She is currently finishing her professional science masters (PSM) in Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England (AUNE) concentrating on sustainable development and climate change, with an additional certificate in climate change resilience.

Shameika volunteers as an Executive Board member and climate committee member of the Long Island Progressive Coalition (LIPC). She is a council member for the State of Black Long Island (SOBLI) Equity Council through the Urban League of Long Island (ULLI) working with their administration to help secure grant funding to advance equity work for black people living in the LI region. Shameika serves on the leadership team of the diversity, equity, justice, and inclusion steering committee of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP) and is currently advising in two equity groups for the next Eastern Region Local Solutions Climate Preparedness Conference and the National Adaptation forum. In her free time, she regularly enjoys mountain hiking, reading books from authors of color, and kayaking.